శుభరాత్రి
śubharātri/ɕubʱaɾaːt̪ɾi/
good night in Telugu is శుభరాత్రి (śubharātri).
శుభరాత్రి is used as a farewell phrase to wish someone a good night. While it is the grammatically correct way to express this sentiment, in casual daily conversation, Telugu speakers are more likely to use English 'good night' or simply say velli ostānu (I will go and come back) to signal departure before sleep.
Meaning: a farewell (phrase)
What does it mean word for word?
The word śubharātri is a compound of two parts: śubha, meaning good or auspicious and rātri, meaning night.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
శుభరాత్రి is a formal or standard way to say good night, often used in written or polite spoken contexts.
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is śubharātri and the IPA is /ɕubʱaɾaːt̪ɾi/.
Did you know?
- The word రాత్రి ('night') is a cognate with the Latin 'nox' and the English 'night'. Both descend from the Proto-Indo-European root *nokwt-.
- While శుభరాత్రి is the translation for 'good night', many Telugu speakers use the phrase వెళ్ళి వస్తాను ('I will go and come back') when leaving. It is considered culturally impolite to say you are leaving permanently, so you frame your departure as a temporary absence.
- శుభరాత్రి is a loanword from Sanskrit, the ancient liturgical language of India. This makes it a 'Tatsama' word, meaning it has been borrowed into Telugu without any change in its original spelling or sound.
Examples in context
- శుభరాత్రి, మళ్ళీ కలుద్దాం.śubharātri, mallī kaluddāṁ.Good night, let's meet again.
- అందరికీ శుభరాత్రి.andarikī śubharātri.Good night to everyone.
- తొందరగా నిద్రపో, శుభరాత్రి.tondaragā nidrapō, śubharātri.Go to sleep quickly, good night.
Example conversation
Pallavi and Kiran are saying goodbye before going to sleep.
- పల్లవి Pallaviనేను పడుకుంటున్నాను, కిరణ్.Nenu padukuntunnanu, Kiran.I am going to sleep, Kiran.
- కిరణ్ Kiranసరే పల్లవి, శుభరాత్రి.Sare Pallavi, shubharatri.Okay Pallavi, good night.
- పల్లవి Pallaviమీకు కూడా శుభరాత్రి.Meeku kooda shubharatri.Good night to you too.
- కిరణ్ Kiranరేపు ఉదయం కలుద్దాం.Repu udayam kaluddam.See you tomorrow morning.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “good night” translations and entries శుభరాత్రి, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries శుభరాత్రి, CC BY-SA 4.0.
