朝

Usage

朝 (あさ) is the morning as a part of the day, roughly from waking until about ten. It is a noun: 朝は寒いです (topic), 朝のコーヒー (modifier), and as a time adverb it usually stands alone, 朝コーヒーを飲みます; 朝に is possible for emphasis, 朝で is wrong. Its counterparts are 昼 (ひる) ‘midday, daytime’, 夕方 (ゆうがた) ‘evening’, 晩・夜 (ばん・よる) ‘night’.

Key compounds change the reading: 今朝 (けさ) ‘this morning’, 毎朝 (まいあさ) ‘every morning’, 朝ご飯 (あさごはん) ‘breakfast’, 朝食 (ちょうしょく) the formal ‘breakfast’ on menus, 朝早く (あさはやく) ‘early in the morning’. For clock time use 午前 (ごぜん) ‘a.m.’: 午前三時 is 3 a.m., which nobody would call 朝.

Examples

• 朝は寒いです。（あさ は さむい です）— It’s cold in the morning.
• 毎朝コーヒーを飲みます。（まいあさ コーヒー を のみます）— I drink coffee every morning.
• 今朝は朝ご飯を食べませんでした。（けさ は あさごはん を たべませんでした）— This morning I didn’t eat breakfast.
• 明日の朝六時に起きます。（あした の あさ ろくじ に おきます）— Tomorrow morning I get up at six.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• ‘Mañana’ is the trap in both directions: as a time of day it is 朝 (あさ), as the next day it is 明日 (あした). ‘Esta mañana’ = 今朝 (けさ), ‘mañana por la mañana’ = 明日の朝, ‘todas las mañanas’ = 毎朝 (まいあさ). French keeps matin and demain apart, and so does Japanese.
• ‘This morning’ is けさ, one word with a special reading, never ×きょうあさ; 今日の朝 is understood but sounds like a workaround. In on-reading compounds 朝 becomes ちょう: 朝食 ちょうしょく, not ×あさしょく.
• ‘Por la mañana’ and ‘le matin’ carry a preposition, so learners write ×朝で. で marks a place or a means, never a time of day: 朝コーヒーを飲みます, or 朝に for emphasis. ‘Buenos días’ is おはようございます, not a phrase built on 朝.