How to say good morning in German in 45 appropriate ways

There’s no better way to start the day than to wish someone else a good morning and no better way to kick off your language learning journey than with a lesson in saying “Good morning”!

If you want to learn German, this is the perfect start. Whether you’re texting a German loved one after waking up, meeting a German friend for coffee or starting your first day of work in a German-speaking environment: You’re going to want to wish someone a good morning sooner or later. Of course you can just say hello to greet someone but it’s always good to be specific and wish people a good morning when it’s that time of the day.

Grab your coffee and a notepad! We’ll teach you all the different ways to say good morning, plus some fun German morning sayings, and as a bonus, we have a calming morning meditation in German for you. Get ready for the most relaxing way to learn a new language!

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How to say good morning in German generally

The morning in German is “der Morgen”. If you want to say “It’s a good morning”, you say “Es ist ein guter Morgen”, but if you’re wishing someone a good morning (jemandem einen guten Morgen wünschen), the morning becomes the object of the sentence, so the ending changes to “Guten Morgen”. It’s always a nice conversation starter, and you can usually get away with wishing someone a good morning until noon.

English	German	IPA
The morning	Der Morgen	[ˈmɔʁɡn̩]
Good morning!	Guten Morgen!	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩]
Good morning, how are you?	Guten Morgen, wie geht’s?	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˌviː ˈɡeːt͡s]
Good morning, did you sleep well?	Guten Morgen, gut geschlafen?	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ɡuːt ɡəˈʃlaːfn̩]
Have a good day!	Hab einen schönen Tag!	[ˈhaːb ˈaɪ̯nən ˈʃøːnən taːk]
Good morning, nice to meet you (formal)	Guten Morgen, schön Sie kennenzulernen	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˈʃøːn ziː ˈkɛnənt͡suˌlɛʁnən]
A beautiful good morning!	Einen schönen guten Morgen!	[ˈaɪ̯nən ˈʃøːnən ɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩]
Wonderful morning!	Einen wunderschönen guten Morgen!	[ˈaɪ̯nən ˌvʊndɐˈʃøːnən ɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩]
It’s a good morning.	Es ist ein guter Morgen.	[ɛs ɪst aɪ̯n ˈɡuːtɐ ˈmɔʁɡn̩]
Today will be a beautiful day.	Heute wird ein schöner Tag.	[ˈhɔɪ̯tə vɪʁt aɪ̯n ˈʃøːnɐ taːk]
What a beautiful morning!	Was für ein schöner Morgen!	[ˈvas ˌfyːɐ̯ aɪ̯n ˈʃøːnɐ ˈmɔʁɡn̩]

Good morning in German slang

There’s no real slang word for “Good morning” in German. Instead of saying “Guten Morgen”, you would just shorten it to “Morgen”. You can always add a German slang phrase to make it sound more casual.

English	German	IPA
Morning	Morgen!	[ˈmɔʁɡn̩]
Morning, how you doin’?	Morgen, wie geht’s?	[ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˌviː ˈɡeːt͡s]
Morning, what’s up?	Morgen, was läuft?	[ˈmɔʁɡn̩ vas lɔɪ̯ft]
Morning, I need some coffee first.	Morgen, ich brauch erst mal Kaffee.	[ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ɪç bʁaʊ̯x ɛɐ̯st ma:l ˈkafe]
Don’t “good morning” me!	Komm mir nicht mit “guten Morgen”.	[kɔm mi:ɐ̯ nɪçt mɪt ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩]

Romantic good mornings

If you ever have the pleasure of waking up next to a German, you’re gonna want to tell them “good morning” in German and maybe add a loving nickname. Or you’re thinking of your German-speaking love interest in the morning and want to send a nice text. If you really want to make their day, throw in a German compliment while you’re at it!

English	German	IPA
Good morning, my love!	Guten Morgen, mein Schatz!	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ maɪ̯n ʃa:t͡s]
Good morning, darling!	Guten Morgen, Liebling!	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˈliːplɪŋ]
Good morning, beautiful!	Guten Morgen, Schönheit!	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˈʃøːnhaɪ̯t]
Good morning, sunshine!	Guten Morgen, Sonnenschein!	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˈzɔnənˌʃaɪ̯n]
Good morning, baby!	Guten Morgen, Baby!	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ˈbeːbi]
Good morning, I woke up thinking about you.	Guten Morgen, ich musste an dich denken, als ich aufgewacht bin.	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ ɪç ˈmʊstə an dɪç ˈdɛŋkən als ɪç ˈaʊ̯fgəvaxt bɪn]
Good morning, I miss you.	Guten Morgen, du fehlst mir.	[ˈɡuːtn̩ ˈmɔʁɡn̩ du: fe:lst mi:ɐ̯]

Morning greetings by German region

In Northern Germany, you say “Moin” or “Moin Moin”. It’s short for “morning” but you can say it all day long. Variations of the word “morning” are seemingly endless, depending on the region. We have “Mojen”, “Morje”, “Morschn” and many more.

English	German	IPA	Region
Morning	Moin	[mɔɪ̯n]	Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein
Morning	Moin Moin	[mɔɪ̯n mɔɪ̯n]	Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein
Morning	Mojen	[ˈmo:jən]	Berlin
Good morning	Guudn Morschn	[ˈgʊʊdn ˈmɔʁʃn]	Saxony
Good morning	Gudd Morje	[gʊdt ˈmɔɐ̯jə]	Saarland
Morning	Guadmorgn	[gʊa:tˈmɔɐ̯gn]	Bavaria
Morning	Morge	[ˈmɔɐ̯gə]	Baden
Morning	Morje	[ˈMorje]	Cologne
Good morning	Guada Morga!	[ˈgʊa:da: ˈmɔɐ̯ga]	Swabia
Morning	Mosche	[ˈmo:ʃə]	Hessia

Good morning in Swiss German and Austrian

Mornings in Switzerland and Austria can be especially beautiful. Check out our guide on German geography terms for some ideas where in the German-speaking countries you can best spend a quiet and peaceful morning in the mountains.

Here are alternative ways to say “Good morning” in Swiss German and Austrian.

English	German	IPA	Country
Good morning	Guete Morge	[ˈgʊɛtə ˈmɔɐ̯gə]	Switzerland
Good morning	Guata Morgä	[ˈgʊata: ˈmɔɐ̯gɛ]	Switzerland
Good morning	Guata Morga	[ˈgʊata: ˈmɔɐ̯ga]	Austria
Morning	Moagn	[ˈmɔʁn̩]	Austria

Other ways to wish someone a good day in German

There are different ways to wish someone a good day in German and “good morning” is a great place to start. Right after waking up in the morning, you’ll still have enough energy to start a conversation in German.

We also listed some German sayings about the morning that may help keep you motivated. Some of them even rhyme! My favorite one is “Aufgewacht, die Sonne lacht” (Wake up, the sun is laughing).

English	German	IPA
Good day!	Guten Tag!	[ˌɡutn̩ ˈtaːk]
Have a nice day!	Hab einen schönen Tag!	[haːp ˈaɪ̯nən ˈʃøːnən taːk]
Rise and shine!	Steh auf und scheine!	[ʃteː aʊ̯f ʊnt ˈʃaɪ̯nə]
Wake up, the sun is laughing.	Aufgewacht, die Sonne lacht.	[ˈaʊ̯fɡəˌvaxt di: zɔnə laxt]
The morning hour has gold in its mouth.	Morgenstunde hat Gold im Munde.	[ˌmɔʁɡn̩ʃtʊndə hat ˈɡɔlt ɪm ˌmʊndə]
The early bird catches the worm.	Der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm.	[deːɐ̯ ˈfʁyːə ˈfoːɡl̩ fɛŋt deːn vʊʁm]
The morning makes the day.	Der Morgen macht den Tag.	[de:ɐ̯ ˈmɔɐ̯gən maxt de:n ta:k]
New day, new luck	Neuer Tag, neues Glück	[ˈnɔʏ̯ɐ ta:k ˈnɔʏ̯ə glʏk]

Start your morning right with this German morning meditation!

Geführte Meditation für den Morgen | 5 Minuten | Der perfekte Start in den Tag!

Listen to this soothing morning meditation in German and let the words sink into your subconscious. Meditations are a great way to learn a language. The instructor usually speaks slowly and clearly with little breaks between sentences so you have enough time to process each word.

This is the perfect way to start your day. You will feel relaxed and productive at the same time because you managed to get your German lesson in before breakfast!

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New morning, new luck

Now that you’ve mastered saying good morning in German, you can move on to asking the other person their name or how they’re doing.

For a lot of people, mornings are the best time of the day to study because the mind is still new and fresh and it’s often easier to focus - but if your studying isn’t going well, just remember that there is always another morning to try again. In fact, the German word for tomorrow is “morgen”, the same word as the one for “morning.”

German-speakers like to say “Neuer Tag, neues Glück” (New day, new luck) when they try something for the second time after it didn’t work out on an earlier day. That’s what you should be telling yourself if you ever skip a lesson or lose your motivation to learn German. Each new morning is a chance to get right back on track.

Our fun German language blog is a great place to start the day and learn something new each morning. As B.B King said: A day we don’t learn something new is a day wasted!