| The most commonly used greeting terms in | | | | going down, refers to the sun has passed the |
| English: Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good | | | | highest and coming down. Chinese refer the |
| Evening have straight forward translations in | | | | period between 11am to 1pm as noon, which is |
| Chinese. But do you know the timing of using | | | | when the sun reaches its highest. During this 2 |
| these greeting sentences/ phrases are different in | | | | hour period, you can greet by saying: 中 午 |
| Chinese? | | | | 好(zhōng wǔ hǎo), which is kind of "Good |
| Good Morning. | | | | Noon" or "Good Midday". 中(zhōng) here means |
| Good morning in Chinese is: 早 上 好(zǎo | | | | middle or centre. 中 午(zhōng wǔ) means |
| shàng hǎo) or 早(zǎo) for short. | | | | noon or midday. The "afternoon" period lasts |
| 早(zǎo) means morning, 上(shàng) means | | | | from 1pm to sunset. 午 后(wǔ hòu) |
| going up, refers to the sun is rising during this | | | | refers to the period shortly after 1 pm. |
| period; and 好(hǎo) is good, 早 上 | | | | Good Evening. |
| 好(zǎo shàng hǎo) = Good Morning. But | | | | Good evening in Chinese is: 晚 上 好(wǎn |
| this it's only suitable to say早 上 好(zǎo | | | | shàng hǎo). 晚(wǎn) means late and |
| shàng hǎo) early in the morning, until 9 am in | | | | 晚上(wǎn shàng) refers to the period |
| the morning. | | | | after sunset while the moon is rising. Usually you |
| Good Afternoon. | | | | can say 晚 上 好(wǎn shàng hǎo) |
| Good morning in Chinese is: 下 午 好(xià | | | | during anything between sunset to 10pm. |
| wǔ hǎo). 午(wǔ) is noon, 下(xià) is | | | | |