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Greeting the day in Spanish

When you greet someone in English, you typically use set phrases like "good morning" or "good night". You do not have to worry about plurals or gender. In Spanish, however, the standard time-of-day greetings are built a bit differently.

Instead of singular formulas, common Spanish greetings like buenos días and buenas noches act as plural noun phrases. They must agree with the gender of the time of day you are referencing. Spanish also divides the day somewhat differently than English does, which means you need to know exactly when to switch from one phrase to the next.

Word list
buen díaA1 good morning masculine singular, shortened alternative buen díaA1 good day masculine singular, regional alternative buenas nochesA1 good evening feminine plural, used after dark buenas nochesA1 good night feminine plural, used to say goodbye or go to sleep buenas tardesA1 good afternoon feminine plural, used from noon until dark buenas tardesA1 good evening feminine plural, used in early evening before full darkness buenos díasA1 good morning masculine plural, standard greeting buenos díasA1 good day masculine plural, standard greeting buenos díasA1 hello masculine plural, used even for one person
Morning and afternoon

The most common way to say hello before noon is buenos días. Because the Spanish word for day, día, is masculine, the adjective describing it must also be masculine. Furthermore, this phrase is traditionally plural. Even if you are only wishing someone a single good morning, you must use the plural adjective buenos to match the plural noun días.

Buenos días, ¿como está usted?
(Good morning, how are you?)
Hola, buenos días.
(Hello, good day.)

Once noon hits, you switch your greeting to buenas tardes. The word tarde is feminine, so the adjective must change its gender to become buenas. This greeting covers the whole afternoon and the early evening, right up until the sun begins to set.

Buenas tardes, señor García.
(Good afternoon, Mr. Garcia.)
Evening and night

English divides the end of the day into two distinct concepts. We use "good evening" as a greeting when arriving, and "good night" as a farewell when leaving or going to sleep. Spanish keeps things simple by combining these into a single phrase.

As soon as the sun goes down and it gets dark outside, you say buenas noches. Because noche is feminine, you use the feminine plural buenas. You use this exact same phrase whether you are walking into a restaurant for dinner at seven o'clock or turning off the lights to go to sleep at midnight.

Buenas noches, Ana. Bienvenida a nuestra casa.
(Good evening, Ana. Welcome to our home.)
Buenas noches, hasta mañana.
(Good night, see you tomorrow.)
Watch out for the singular

Because English greetings are singular, English speakers frequently make the mistake of saying "bueno día" or "buena noche" as a direct translation. In standard Spanish across the world, you should stick to the plural phrases for your greetings.

However, there is one major exception. In some regions, particularly in parts of Latin America, you will hear people use the grammatically correct singular phrase buen día to say good morning or good day. The adjective bueno drops its final "o" before a masculine singular noun, becoming buen.

Hola, buen día.
(Hello, good morning.)

You can use this singular form safely in those regions, but remember that the afternoon and night greetings almost always remain plural everywhere.

Summary

Remember that standard Spanish daily greetings are traditionally plural and must match the gender of the noun. Use the masculine buenos días until noon, switch to the feminine buenas tardes until it gets dark, and use the feminine buenas noches for both saying "good evening" and "good night".