Good Morning and Good Night in Farsi: 7 Phrases and Replies

Short answer: Good morning in Farsi is sobh bekheyr and good night is shab bekheyr. Both are built the same way: the time of day plus bekheyr, "with goodness". Good afternoon is asr bekheyr. Add -et to make it warmer (sobhet bekheyr), and at bedtime say khub bekhâbi, "sleep well".

These two are easy to say and easy to get slightly wrong. The big one: شب بخیر is, in everyday life, a goodbye. You don't walk into a dinner party at nine and say it. And Iranians don't really say "good evening" the way English speakers do, which leaves a gap learners fill with the wrong phrase.

Below are the phrases, the replies (the part most lists skip), and when each one fits.

Good morning and good night in Farsi at a glance

Sobh bekheyr: good morning

صبح is morning and خیر is good, or a blessing. Put them together with be ("with") and you get صبح بخیر, "morning with goodness". In writing you'll also see it as two words, be kheyr. Both are fine.

• صبح بخیر بابا (sobh bekheyr bâbâ): "good morning, Dad"
• صبح بخیر، صبحانه آماده است (sobh bekheyr, sobhâne âmâde ast): "good morning, breakfast is ready"
• سلام صبح بخیر (salâm, sobh bekheyr): "hi, good morning", the kind of line I suggest for a first Farsi Instagram story in my immersion at home guide

The glossary note on this entry makes a point I agree with: sobh bekheyr is a phrase people really say. It isn't a stiff leftover like "good morrow". You'll hear it at the bakery, from colleagues, and from the radio.

Shab bekheyr: good night

شب بخیر is the last thing said in an Iranian house at night. It's also what you say when you leave a gathering late, or end a phone call in the evening. In everyday life it's a parting phrase, not a greeting. Arriving somewhere at night, you say salâm, the same as any time of day. My 37 Persian greetings post files it with the goodbyes for that reason.

• شب بخیر مامان (shab bekheyr mâmân): "good night, Mom"
• شب بخیر، خوب بخوابی (shab bekheyr, khub bekhâbi): "good night, sleep well"
• شبت بخیر (shabet bekheyr): "good night to you", the warmer version younger people send in texts

The -et trick: sobhet bekheyr, shabet bekheyr

Add the possessive ending -et ("your") to the time word and the greeting becomes personal: صبحت بخیر (sobhet bekheyr), "your morning with goodness". It's what you'd say to someone you love, or reply to someone who just said sobh bekheyr to you.

With someone you call shomâ (an elder, a boss), the spoken ending is -etun (written -etân): sobhetun bekheyr, shabetun bekheyr. If to versus shomâ is new to you, the greetings post explains when to use each.

Is there a good evening in Farsi?

Not really, not as a fixed greeting. عصر بخیر (asr bekheyr) covers the late afternoon, since عصر is the stretch between afternoon and dark. After that, people just say salâm.

When you can't decide, there's a safe all-day option: وقت بخیر (vaqt bekheyr), "good time", or "good day". It's especially common on the phone. In my phone conversation guide, the caller opens a doctor's appointment with سلام، وقت بخیر (salâm, vaqt bekheyr).

How to reply to good morning and good night

Replying with the same phrase is always fine. These are the other common answers.

Which one, when?

For the small talk that follows a sobh bekheyr (family, work, the weather), see my Farsi small talk guide.

Get it wrong and the worst that happens is a warm laugh and a story they’ll tell for years. Get it right — refuse the tea twice, accept on the third — and you’ll watch a face open up. You didn’t just speak Persian. You played the game.