# All Slavic Languages: Take care / Take care of yourself



## mateo19

Hello everyone,

I would like to know how to say "Take care" in as many Slavic languages as you are willing to supply.  "Take care" is the expression we use in English when we say goodbye to someone and we wish that they are well, that they "take care of themselves".  Depending on how brief we wish to be, we can also say "take good care" or "take good care of yourself".

I know that in Slovak and I _think _in Czech too (because a Czech member told me how to say this) it is:

Opatruj sa (singular),  Opatrujte sa (formal, plural)

I think that I've also seen Maj / Majte sa dobre.  Is there a difference in connotation?

Thank you in advance for your contributions!


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## Duya

In Serbian/Croatian:

*Čuvaj se! (Čuvajte se!)
*
I wouldn't say it's as frequent as in English, but it does work as a goodbye among intimate people. (For that reason, the formal-plural would sound stilted). 

"Pazi(te) se" is generally synonymous, but it doesn't work well as a greeting.


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## TheGist

The Russian phrase that is closest in meaning to "take care of yourself" is "береги себя" (bereg`i seb`ya), though it is not used as frequently in Russian as a farewell formula. "Будь здоров" (Bud' zdor`ov) is an even less common phrase than the previous one, but you can still hear it occasionally as a way of saying goodbye, but usually it is used when someone sneezes like "bless you". "Всего доброго" (vseg`o  d`obrogo) means something like "best wishes" and is used more often on TV or radio at the end of a program or something like that.


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## slavic_one

Duya said:


> In Serbian/Croatian:
> 
> *Čuvaj se! (Čuvajte se!)
> *
> I wouldn't say it's as frequent as in English, but it does work as a goodbye among intimate people. (For that reason, the formal-plural would sound stilted).
> 
> "Pazi(te) se" is generally synonymous, but it doesn't work well as a greeting.



Drž' (drži) se!
Živio!
Uživaj!


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## slavic_one

mateo19 said:


> I think that I've also seen Maj / Majte sa dobre.  Is there a difference in connotation?



Slovak "maj sa" like Czech "měj se" is, as far as I've seen, far more common (or frequent) in everyday speech than "opatruj sa/se".


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## Kanes

Bulgarian: pazi se


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## lalakuku

Slovene (colloquial, particularly among young people): 

- Pazi nase! = I guess it comes closest to "take care", may also be a mild warning that someone should take better care of their health. "Pazi se" is a warning or threat in Slovene, as in "be careful, I'm keeping an eye on you" or as a warning against danger  

- Drž' (drži) se! = literally: hold yourself

- Mej se! = literally: have yourself

- Mej se fajn! = literally: have yourself fine

- Fajn bodi! = literally: be fine

- Uživaj! = literally: enjoy

I added the literary translations as I find some of them a bit amusing


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## slavian1

In Polish we use to say - "trzymaj się" or " uważaj na siebie".


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## Piotr_WRF

In Polish it would be:

_Trzymaj się_ (sg.)
_Trzymajcie się_ (pl.)

As this is a somewhat informal expression it would sound strange to say it in a formal situation. Besides, in Polish the formal singular form is not the same as the above plural.


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## Tagarela

Ahoj,



slavic_one said:


> Slovak "maj sa" like Czech "měj se" is, as far as I've seen, far more common (or frequent) in everyday speech than "opatruj sa/se".



Althought my Czech experience is short, I've seen this *Měj se* a lot already, the whole expression would be *Měj se hezky*.

Na shledanou.:


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## slavic_one

Tagarela said:


> Ahoj,
> 
> 
> 
> Althought my Czech experience is short, I've seen this *Měj se* a lot already, the whole expression would be *Měj se hezky*.
> 
> Na shledanou.:



It's not neccessery to be "hezky", it could be "Měj se krásně" or sth like that.


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## Natabka

In Ukraininan:
Take care (of yourself) - *Бережи себе!* (-tú) - *Бережіть себе!* (-Usted, also coincides with plural)

It's not that frequent as in English, and it's _very_ "unfrequent" to come across somethinl like " Take good care of yourself". 
Better to say: *"Тримайся!*" (Тримайтеся! for "Usted-form", but this word sounds better between friends or at least with those whom you do not call Usted.


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## kelt

I concur,

_měj se_

is used to say _see you_. It's been very common past few years.

You can add _hezky_ or _pěkně_, but I personally find this a kind of endearment. Others may not feel that. And I think it's far less common than plain _měj se_.


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## Luluta

Bulgarian *Да гледам *,which means something like 'watch out'. We don't usually say ''take care'' as good bye.


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## Kanes

Luluta are you Bulgarian? *Да гледам* means 'for me to watch' not 'watch out' or anything like it.


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## mateo19

Hello everyone.  These posts are very interesting.  Thank you everyone for contributing to my question.

Does anyone know if the Bosnian is also "*Čuvaj se!*"

Natabka, what do your forms literally mean?  I'm curious to see a literal translation. 

*Бережи себе!
**
Тримайся!*


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## Kanes

Hehe on Bulgarian *cuvai se* means listen to yourself =D


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## njumi

Another translation to polish  can be "*Dbaj o siebie!*".


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## Natabka

mateo19 said:


> Natabka, what do your forms literally mean? I'm curious to see a literal translation.
> 
> *Бережи себе!*
> 
> *Тримайся!*


 
And what was your question! They mean "Take care of yourself"! ))

"Бережи себе" word for word means "take care of yourself" and
"Тримайся"  is "Hold on!"

(This "of yourself" is expressed in the first case by pronoun "себе" and in the second by -I don't know for sure what it's called - by "reflexive particle" "-ся", you can find something similar also in Spanish or Polish)

Cf. with posts #9 by Piotr_WRF and Lalakuku:
_Тримай*ся*!_* -* _Trzymaj *się*_ (sg.) - Drž' (drži) *se*! =all literally mean "hold [yourself] on!"

So,
Take care, Mateo19!


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## hausland

In Serbian, we also say "Budi dobar!" (to a man) which is equivalent to the English "Be good!" and tends to fulfil a similar function as "Cuvaj se!" (maybe slightly more intimate) .


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## mateo19

Hello Natabka,

I asked what the Ukrainian meant because as we have seen, some of these expressions mean "Hold yourself" or "Have yourself".  I wasn't sure how directly the expression "to take care" translates.I'm glad to know how to say it in Ukrainian though.  Дякую дуже! 

It's interesting how much diversity we find in the Slavic languages.  Some of the expressions are similar (like měj se and maj sa), while others are quite differente.  The same thing happens with the Romance languages: SP: Cuídate, PT: Cuide-se, CAT: Cuida't, IT: Stammi bene or Abbi cura di te, FR: Prends soin de toi or Porte-toi bien.  They're also not all exact equivalents, but there are similarities and differences.

Does the Polish "*Trzymaj się*" literally mean "take care" or does it mean something slightly different?


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## njumi

mateo19 said:


> Does the Polish "*Trzymaj się*" literally mean "take care" or does it mean something slightly different?




No. It literally means something like "hold yourself". "Trzymaj" is the imperative form of "trzymać" which means "hold" and "się" is a reflexive pronoun.

But the literally meaning is never used in case of "trzymaj się". This phrase practically always means *take care (of yourself)*. And it is always directed to the second person (you). It isn't possible to use "trzymaj się" in a sense of  "take care of him". The best way to say it would be "opiekuj się nim" lub "dbaj o niego".


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## Thomas1

A little off-topic:





njumi said:


> [...]But the literally meaning is never used in case of "trzymaj się". [...]


I'm afraid you're being too absolute, the phrase can be and is used in its literal sense. 

Tom


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## njumi

Thomas1 said:


> A little off-topic:
> I'm afraid you're being too absolute, the phrase can be and is used in its literal sense.
> Tom



My fault... I've forgotten about the phrases such as "Trzymaj się z dala..."

Thanks for correcting me.


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## Mark-John

In Bulgarian I have heard spoken 'Pazi se' literally 'guard yourself' or sometimes 'Vnimavai se', but this is more like 'be careful', or perhaps 'Gleday se', but like Luluta said, we are'nt speaking it for a farewell but more generally than this.  Pozdravi kam Kanes and Luluta.


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