v.
to say goodnight; goodnight
晚安
Common Usage & Traps
- 说晚安 — to say goodnight
- 道晚安 — to bid goodnight
- 互道晚安 — to say goodnight to each other
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晚安你对你说晚安 / 跟你说晚安晚安 is a fixed farewell phrase, not a verb. It can't grab a person as a direct object the way a real action verb does.
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下班离开办公室说晚安下班离开办公室说再见 / 明天见晚安 is reserved for bedtime. Using it as a 5pm office exit line sounds as weird as wishing a coworker sweet dreams on your way out.
Can you say 晚安 to a coworker as you leave the office at 5pm?
No. 晚安 only means sleep well — it's a bedtime line, not a general goodbye.
In English, 'good night' pulls double duty: it ends a party at 9pm and ends the day at midnight. In Chinese, 晚安 is locked to the second one. It means sleep well, and nothing else. Leaving work in the daytime calls for 再见 or 明天见. And if you meet someone at 7pm and want to greet them, that's 晚上好, not 晚安. Getting this wrong makes you sound like you're tucking your colleague into bed.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Leaving the office at 5pm | 明天见 / 再见 | 晚安 |
| Texting your partner before bed | 晚安 | 再见 |
| Walking into a dinner at 8pm | 晚上好 | 晚安 |
Do you need 说 before 晚安, or can you just say 晚安 on its own?
Standalone 晚安 IS the greeting; add 说 only when you describe the act.
Firing 晚安 straight at someone is a complete sentence — like blurting 'Night!' across the room. The verb 说 (or the fancier 道) only shows up when you're talking about the action instead of doing it. So a bedtime routine gets described as 睡觉前说晚安, and couples who text each other get 互道晚安. If you're actually saying it, drop the 说 and just send 晚安. “想去睡觉说晚安！” (When you want to go to sleep, you say 'Good night!') ── [《谢谢您请》](/read/thanks-for-treating#s8)
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Saying it directly to someone | 晚安！ | 说晚安！ |
| Describing the habit | 睡觉前说晚安 | 睡觉前晚安 |
| Two people texting back and forth | 互道晚安 | 互相晚安 |
Featured in Story Deep Dive
Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.
Everyday greetings are a gateway to natural Chinese. Practice time-based hellos like “早上好” and “晚安,” learn to address teachers with the respectful “您,” and see how families skip formalities to speak warmly at home.
- Scene #1
想去睡觉说 晚安 ！
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