good night - bonus nocturnal!

Just to remind you, the Romance word for night comes from nocte, like nocturnal.

A funny thing about these words for "night" - they're what we call "feminine." What does that mean? Well, it means, for starters, that they're not masculine words, which "day" is. Now, why is "day" masculine and "night" feminine? Historical linguists can tell you, but the answer is long and complicated.

The important thing to know is that masculine and feminine are grammar words. You could just as well say "day" and "night" words and the system would work, because what's really at stake is not the gender of the word, but the endings you tack on adjectives that modify it.

So far, we know the "day" form of good - it's bon, buono, bueno. And we know you take off the "o" in Spanish and Italian if it's in front of a noun. So, the "día" is "bueno," since "bueno" comes after in the sentence. But, it's a "buen día," because "buen" comes right before the noun. This is how it works for masculine or "day" words.

For "night," or feminine words, the "o" in Spanish and Italian changes to "a":

Spanish buena noche; pronounce it "bweh-nah no-chay".

Italian buona notte; pronounce it "bwoh-nah noh-tay".

In French, you usually add an "e" if the adjective ends in a consonant. For bon, you also have to double the "n" (or it would sound like "bone"; it's supposed to sound like "bunn"), which gives you:

French bonne nuit; pronounce it "bunn(uh) nwee".

Whew! That was a lot of grammar! But trust me, it doesn't have to be hard. For now, just learn the expressions, and when you need to learn the rules, they'll make sense because you've been following them already!

Here, then, is what you need to know. Read through the other stuff once or twice and then put it on the back burner.

bon jour, buon giorno, buen día
bonne nuit, buona notte, buena noche