# Most common greetings



## kunami

What are the most commons greetings in czech?


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## cyanista

I know *ahoj*!


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## MooseVW

I'm taking this from my book, so not all of them may be used. 

Dobré ráno = Good Morning
Dobrý den = Good Day
Dobré odpoledne = Good Afternoon
Dobrý večer = Good Evening
Nazdar/Ahoj = Hello/Hi

I'm not sure how reliable my book is, so I guess just wait for verification from a native Czech speaker.


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## Jana337

cyanista said:
			
		

> I know *ahoj*!


 Excellent! 

Let me elaborate: "Ahoj" (pronounce ahoy) is stylistically like "hello", "hi" - i.e. you can use it in informal contexts. An even more colloquial word would be "čau" (č - like *ch*ip). Unlike English, both of them can also mean "bye". Then there is "nazdar" which can also be used as "bye" but not so frequently.

Formal greetings:
Dobré ráno (good morning) - until cca 10 a.m.
Dobrý den (good day) - universal, dawn-to-dusk
Dobré odpoledne (good afternoon) - until cca 6 p.m.
Dobrý večer (good evening) - after 6 p.m.
Dobrou noc (only when someone is leaving) - depends on who you are talking to 

To say goodbye:
Nashledanou - "until we meet again"
Naslyšenou - "until we hear each other again"
Naviděnou - "until we see each other again"
Sbohem - "with God"

The first one is the most common.

Hope this helps. 

Jana


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## jester.

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Dobrou noc (only when someone is leaving) - depends on who you are talking to



What does that mean? Is there a special nuance in saying "dobrou noc"?


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## Jana337

j3st3r said:
			
		

> What does that mean? Is there a special nuance in saying "dobrou noc"?


I would only say "dobrou noc" if I knew that the conversation partner was going to sleep soon. If I were leaving at 10 p.m. and if I thought that she would stay up until 1 a.m., I would say nashledanou/ahoj.

I guess I shouldn't have complicated it with unnecessary comments. 

Jana


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## jester.

Jana337 said:
			
		

> I would only say "dobrou noc" if I knew that the conversation partner was going to sleep soon. If I were leaving at 10 p.m. and if I thought that she would stay up until 1 a.m., I would say nashledanou/ahoj.
> 
> I guess I shouldn't have complicated it with unnecessary comments.
> 
> Jana



Well, now it should be clear for everyone (at least it's clear for me now). Thank you.


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## Camillo

Jana337 said:
			
		

> An even more colloquial word would be "čau" (č - like *ch*ip).



Would "čau" be pronounced like the Italian word "Ciao"? Hmm interesting.


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## jester.

Camillo said:
			
		

> Would "čau" be pronounced like the Italian word "Ciao"? Hmm interesting.



Yes, I think it would indeed be pronounced like the Italian word.


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## Jana337

Camillo said:
			
		

> Would "čau" be pronounced like the Italian word "Ciao"? Hmm interesting.


No, "čau" would like "ciau" which could be a Portuguese version of "ciao". 

Jana


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## jester.

Jana337 said:
			
		

> No, "čau" would like "ciau" which could be a Portuguese version of "ciao".
> 
> Jana



Do a and u usually not form a diphtong then (like in German for example)?


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## Jana337

j3st3r said:
			
		

> Do a and u usually not form a diphtong then (like in German for example)?


Yes, they do. It is better to describe the pronunciation like this, then: Chow. 

Jana


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## jester.

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Yes, they do. It is better to describe the pronunciation like this, then: Chow.
> 
> Jana



Ah, ok. I was not really thinking of the correct Italian pronunciation (with a real o) but rather of the colloquial German pronunciation of the word "tschau" which has a diphtong and is pronounced just like "chow".

So it was a kind of missunderstanding.


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## Camillo

Jana337 said:
			
		

> No, "čau" would like "ciau" which could be a Portuguese version of "ciao".
> 
> Jana



I'm sorry I don't understand. I thought the č makes a *ch *sound as in chip.


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## Jana337

Camillo said:
			
		

> I'm sorry I don't understand. I thought the č makes a *ch *sound as in chip.


That's right. The Italian "ci" produces the same sound.

Jana


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## Thomas1

Jana337 said:
			
		

> I would only say "dobrou noc" if I knew that the conversation partner was going to sleep soon. If I were leaving at 10 p.m. and if I thought that she would stay up until 1 a.m., I would say nashledanou/ahoj.
> 
> I guess I shouldn't have complicated it with unnecessary comments.
> 
> Jana


I guess it's like saying good night, isn't it?

To make the matters more complicated... 

Do you have something like _have a good night_ in Czech, please? (I'm asking since we have something like that in Polish--dobrej nocy; apart from dobranoc=dobrou noc)


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## Thomas1

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Camillo said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sorry I don't understand. I thought the č makes a *ch *sound as in chip.
> 
> 
> 
> That's right. The Italian "ci" produces the same sound.
> 
> Jana
Click to expand...

Well, skipping all the theoretical defferences, these are two different sounds to the ears of a Polish speaker. Jana, do you remember that we have three different sounds for "c" family ones (not including c itself): ć, cz, ci? We pronunce them differently. 

Tom


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## Jana337

Thomas1 said:
			
		

> Well, skipping all the theoretical defferences, these are two different sounds to the ears of a Polish speaker. Jana, do you remember that we have three different sounds for "c" family ones (not including c itself): ć, cz, ci? We pronunce them differently.


Are you trying to say that "chip" and "ciao" have a different č? 


> Do you have something like _have a good night_ in Czech, please? (I'm asking since we have something like that in Polish--dobrej nocy; apart from dobranoc=dobrou noc)


To me they are identical. I may not understand the distinction, though...

Jana


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## Camillo

Jana337 said:
			
		

> That's right. The Italian "ci" produces the same sound.
> 
> Jana



So then it doesn't sound like the Portugese "ciau" which is more resemblant of the "s" sound. That's what you said originaly so I'm confused.


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## Jana337

Camillo said:
			
		

> So then it doesn't sound like the Portugese "ciau" which is more resemblant of the "s" sound. That's what you said originaly so I'm confused.


 Oh, I don't know much about the Portuguese pronunciation - just that they read the final -o as if it were -u.  Does the word "ciau" actually exist in Portuguese? I did not assume it, I meant the Italian word "ciao" mispronounced by a Portuguese. Too much speculation, I am afraid. 

Jana


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## werrr

Thomas1 said:
			
		

> ...
> Do you have something like _have a good night_ in Czech, please? (I'm asking since we have something like that in Polish--dobrej nocy; apart from dobranoc=dobrou noc)


Both coincide into "dobrou noc" since we use mostly accusative in greetings. The genitive construction is archaic. We still use it occasionally with verbs - i.e. both "přeji (=I wish) dobrou noc" and "přeji dobré noci" is correct (with slightly different meaning) but the latter sounds odd without verb.


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## Thomas1

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Are you trying to say that "chip" and "ciao" have a different č?


To my ears, yes, because of the fact that I mentioned in my previous post. IMHO, the Italian sounds softer here, though, I haven't heard it for quite a while.



			
				Jana said:
			
		

> To me they are identical. I may not understand the distinction, though...


 
Werrr, answered my question perfectly, thank you. 



			
				werr said:
			
		

> Both coincide into "dobrou noc" since we use mostly accusative in greetings. The genitive construction is archaic. We still use it occasionally with verbs - i.e. both "přeji (=I wish) dobrou noc" and "přeji dobré noci" is correct (with slightly different meaning) but the latter sounds odd without verb.


This arises from the fact that accusativus is a direct object of a verb in many languages, however, we use more often genitivus (in place where you'd probably use the former one).
In Polish it's possible to say it both ways:
życzę dobrej nocy I wish (you) a good night --here very often the order is changed (dobrej nocy życzę) or without the verb--dobrej nocy

Could you please confirm if I reasoned it out well:
přeji dobrou noc = (życzę) dobrej nocy (have a good night)
dobrou noc = dobranoc (good night)


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## werrr

Thomas1 said:
			
		

> ...
> Could you please confirm if I reasoned it out well:
> přeji dobrou noc = (życzę) dobrej nocy (have a good night)
> dobrou noc = dobranoc (good night)



Yes, that's exact Czech-Polish mapping.

English "have a good night" is only loose translation but that's problem of English .


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,

Mm, as the most active users probably have noticed, I usually start my messages with "_ahoj_" and finishes them with "_na shledanou_". In another forum, an user (non-native speaker) told me that it was a little strange, since "na shledanou" is formal and "ahoj" colloquial. 

Is it really odd to beggin a conversation with "_ahoj_" and close it with "_na shledanou_"? 

Děkuju vám předem

Na shledanou.:


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## winpoj

Dobrý den a ahoj, Tagarelo,

It's not a big problem and it didn't strike me as odd until you mentioned it. But yes, strictly speaking we use the "dobrý den" "na shledanou" pair in formal contexts and "ahoj" or "čau" (both when meeting and an leaving) in informal ones.
This would also correspond to what form of you we would choose ("vykání" versus "tykání").

Personally, I'm often not quite sure how familiar I should try to sound on Internet fora like this one.

Na shledanou, ahoj, čau a nazdar.


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## tlumic

Tagarela said:


> Ahoj,
> 
> Mm, as the most active users probably have noticed, I usually start my messages with "_ahoj_" and finishes them with "_na shledanou_". In another forum, an user (non-native speaker) told me that it was a little strange, since "na shledanou" is formal and "ahoj" colloquial.
> 
> Is it really odd to beggin a conversation with "_ahoj_" and close it with "_na shledanou_"?
> 
> Děkuju vám předem
> 
> Na shledanou.:


 
Ahoj,

I see it this way:
informal -
to greet: ahoj/zdravím/dobré ráno/dobrý večer/čau/nazdar (but, the last one sounds me a little rough)
to say goodbye: ahoj/zdravím/pěkný večer//cau/nazdar (the last sounds me a little rough, too)

The advantage of "zdravím" is that you can use it in both formal and informal speech - or, to be more exact: if using "zdravím" nobody can identify whether you are using "tykání" or "vykání" ... so, it is true that it´s formal/informal, but it is more informal than formal.

The sterness of "nazdar" is also contained in "no/nó nazdar" (Good Lord! Lawks!) - no nazdar is used when some trouble has come. And, then, nazdar with "no" is used, sometimes, when you want to say that you are not pleased about appearance of the person (however, the effect of "no/nó nazdar" can also be rather comical, humorous - and the intention as well)

formal -
to greet: dobrý den/dobré ráno/dobrý večer
to say g.b.: nashledanou/pěkný den/pěkný večer

Pa pa


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## ytre

zdar - Used as Hi or Bye. Can mean also Success! - common;   nazdar - Used as Hi or Bye. Can mean also To success! - common;   Jak se máte, Jak se daří. - Possibly original long form of previous. Used as How are you. Older? Formal?;   Vítejte - welcome - group or formal not so common; Zdravíčko - Used as hi. not so common very familiar. Wish you good health.


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