How to say “good morning” in Thai

Arun sawat: correct, but mostly on paper

อรุณà-run means dawn, and สวัสดิ์sà-wàt is the "well-being" root inside สวัสดีsà-wàt-dii, so อรุณสวัสดิ์à-run-sà-wàt is a neat little dawn blessing. You'll see it on morning TV, hear it at school assemblies and find it on the flowery pictures relatives send to family LINE groups. In person, though, most Thais never say it. สวัสดีsà-wàt-dii covers every hour of the day, and with colleagues you see daily, a smile and a nod is often all there is.

The LINE good-morning picture

Join a Thai family's LINE group and you'll soon get a morning picture of flowers, a temple or a cute animal saying สวัสดีวันจันทร์sà-wàt-dii wan-jan ("hello, Monday") or whatever day it is, often in that day's traditional colour: red for Sunday, yellow for Monday, pink for Tuesday, green for Wednesday, orange for Thursday, blue for Friday and purple for Saturday. Replying with a sticker is perfectly polite.

Good afternoon, good evening, have a nice day

Thai has สวัสดีตอนบ่ายsà-wàt-dii dtawn-bàai (good afternoon), สวัสดีตอนเย็นsà-wàt-dii dtawn-yen (good evening) and even a formal สายัณห์สวัสดิ์sǎa-yan-sà-wàt for good evening, but all three are rare in conversation. At bedtime it's ฝันดีfǎn-dii, "sweet dreams". "Have a nice day" is ขอให้เป็นวันที่ดีนะkǎw-hâi bpen wan tîi dii ná, used mostly in messages; when parting in person, Thais are more likely to say โชคดีนะchôok-dii ná, literally "good luck".

How to pronounce อรุณสวัสดิ์à-run-sà-wàt

Four short beats: à (low), run (mid, with a short "u" as in "put"), sà (low), wàt (low, the t cut off). The last letters are silent: the little mark on top, called การันต์gaa-ran, tells you not to pronounce the letter under it. So unlike สวัสดีsà-wàt-dii, there's no "dee" at the end. Spellings such as arun sawat and aroon sawasdee are all attempts at this.

Mornings, Thai style

Thai mornings start early. Monks walk their alms rounds around sunrise, markets are busiest before eight, and street stalls sell breakfast like โจ๊กjóok (rice porridge) and ปาท่องโก๋bpaa-tâwng-gǒo (fried dough sticks) with sweet coffee. So morning greetings are often about food: กินข้าวเช้าหรือยังgin kâao-cháao rǔue yang, "have you had breakfast?", is a friendlier good morning than any dictionary phrase.