# Valentine's Day Greeting



## Grefsen

Judging by a website I just came across (which unfortunately I can't post the link to since I'm new here), it looks like St. Valentine's Day is celebrated in Russia much the same way it is in the U.S. with heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and roses.  I'm not sure precisely what the reason is but, I believe that the number of roses given to a Russian should be an odd number such as 11 or 23 instead of an even dozen or two unless it is for a funeral.

 Is this something relatively new or has St. Valentine's Day been celebrated in Russia for a long time? Also, what would be an appropriate Valentine's greeting in Russian to use in a card to a very close friend. (Please reply using either the Latin alphabet or both Latin and Cyrillic since I haven't learned the Cyrillic alphabet yet.)

"Spasibo!"


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## Anatoli

Here's the congratulation message:

Russian: "С днём святого Валентина!"
Romanisation: "S dnyom svyatogo Valentina!"
pronounced roughly as [z dn'om svit*o*va Valent*i*na], note letter "г" (g) is pronounced as "v" here, read vowels as in Latin, French or German, not English, accented vowels are highlighted in bold.

Literally it means: "With (the) day of holy Valenitine".


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## Grefsen

Anatoli said:


> Here's the congratulation message:
> 
> Russian: "С днём святого Валентина!"
> Romanisation: "S dnyom svyatogo Valentina!"
> pronounced roughly as [z dn'om svit*o*va Valent*i*na], note letter "г" (g) is pronounced as "v" here, read vowels as in Latin, French or German, not English, accented vowels are highlighted in bold.
> 
> Literally it means: "With (the) day of holy Valenitine".




"Spasibo" for such quick and thorough reply.  

How would it be if I used the following in a Valentine's Day card to this very close Russian female friend?

"Dorogaya milalya (name),

S dnyom svyatogo Valentina!  Ti takaya chudesnaya. (You are so wonderful.)  Spasibo tebe, chto        tee yest'.  (Thank you for being yourself.)

Closing with "Poka" seems like it would be too casual and I'm thinking that using  "Do svidaniya"  might not be appropriate either.  I was also wondering if I could  perhaps get away with using "Tseluyu" since it is Valentine's Day.  

In Norwegian, when writing to a close female friend who I am not romantically involved with I could close by writing "Klem fra" (Hugs from).  What would be the Russian equivalent of this? 

"Spasibo" in advance for your help.


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## Anatoli

For me, it's hard to decide what you would dare to say to your female friend.

Tseluyu (целую) sounds good but you probably wouldn't use it if you hadn't really kissed her yet (it depends, you may still be able to use it).

Something between "пока" and "до свиданья"? До встречи (do vstrechi), perhaps, it's less formal and not so casual.

Your letter looks OK, good luck


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## Maroseika

Grefsen said:


> I'm not sure precisely what the reason is but, I believe that the number of roses given to a Russian should be an odd number such as 11 or 23 instead of an even dozen or two unless it is for a funeral.
> "Spasibo!"


As far as I know, beginning with 10-12 flowers this rule doesn't work (who will count???).
But you never know, so better to follow this rule scrupulously.


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## Crescent

Hey there, Grefsen! 
Gee, I didn't even realise Valentine's day is so soon! Thanks for the reminder! 

Your letter sounds very good to me and I have no doubt that the lucky girl receiving it will be very flattered indeed.  However, a few small corrections to make her completely melt not only from your charms, but from your impressingly-good russian: 



Grefsen said:


> "Dorogaya*/*milalya (name),-- I think it would be more appropriate to put one of these. That is: either* Dorogaya* e.g. Dasha, or *Milaya* Dasha. (it's just that both of them sounds a bit too...heavy. If you see what I mean!  )
> 
> Pozdravlyayu tebya (means: I congratulate you, literally, but sounds a lot better in Russian than the English equivalent.  I also think it sounds more personal, but you don't have to include it, of course!) s dnyom svyatogo Valentina!  Ti takaya chudesnaya. Spasibo tebe, *za* chto        tee yest'. --Be careful here. What you said makes perfect sense, but it is not the same as the English translation you gave us. What you said was: Thank you for being (as in:existing), and that sounds fine! But your english equivalent was: Thank you being _yourself_, which would translate as: Spasibo tebye za to, chto ti vsegda takaya, kakaya ti est' na samom delye. And to me that doesn't sound so good. Anyways, I suggest you use the first phrase that you gave us! It really sounds a lot more natural.



As for closing... to be honest ''tseluyu'' (especially since it's Valentine's day) sounds absolutely fine to me, and I think it would just add to the charm!  However, if you don't want to sound too personal, and want to look a bit more ''cool'', then you could always use: _Krepko tebya obnimayu._ This is our equivalent of ''Lots of Hugs'' which you yourself suggested. It translates literally as: I hug you very tightly. Since we don't have a noun for ''a hug'' and only use it as verb, there is no such thing as ''lots'' of hugs, but only: Hugging you tightly. 
Which sounds just as good to me. 

In any case, good luck with your Valentine!


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## Crescent

Maroseika said:


> As far as I know, beginning with 10-12 flowers this rule doesn't work (who will count???).
> But you never know, so better to follow this rule scrupulously.



I have to say, it is rather odd that we (Russians) consider an even number of roses to be appropriate only for funerals and that it is more common to give (approximately) 7 roses to your girlfriend/boyfriend, because otherwise it would cost too much and they would be too heavy to carry home. 

However, I cannot agree with Maroseika (sorry ) that this rule doesn't work from 12 flowers onwards. I can only speak for myself, and thus I admit that if I received any number of roses I _would_ sit and count them.  Even if it was just for the fun of it!


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## Anatoli

Crescent said:


> ...
> Spasibo tebe, *za* chto        tee yest'
> ...


Sorry, Crescent, but the original ("Спасибо тебе, что ты есть.") was better than your correction  You probably meant:

Spasibo tebe, *za* *to* chto        tee yest' -

Спасибо тебе, за то что ты есть.


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## Etcetera

Anatoli said:


> Спасибо тебе за то что ты есть.


A correction: no comma is needed after тебе.
Well, there can be a comma, actually, but only as a means of special emphasis. 

Grefsen, you can also find this discussion of interest. My post is #21 - the top one on the second page.


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## Crescent

Anatoli said:


> Sorry, Crescent, but the original ("Спасибо тебе, что ты есть.") was better than your correction  You probably meant:
> 
> Spasibo tebe, *za* *to* chto        tee yest' -
> 
> Спасибо тебе, за то что ты есть.



Yes, thank you very much, Anatoli! That is, of course, what I was trying to say, but somehow my lack of concentration or attention has let me down...
Yes, of course I agree that ''spasibo tebye, chto ti est'.'' sounds a lot better than what I had suggested. (which is nonsense, anyway. Sorry, Grefsen  )
But after you had corrected it, I think it's a little bit more...Russian.  The ''Spasibo tebye za to, chto ti est'.'', I meant. However, to be honest, both versions sound absolutely fine, now that I think about it. 
It's up to you which to choose, Grefsen. 

Thank you very much for your correction, Anatoli!


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## Crescent

Etcetera said:


> A correction: no comma is needed after тебе.
> Well, there can be a comma, actually, but only as a means of special emphasis.
> 
> Grefsen, you can also find this discussion of interest. My post is #21 - the top one on the second page.



Etcetra, я согласна, что после "тебе" запятая не нужна, но вот после перед "что", может быть понадобится? Мне всегда казалось, что перед "что" ставиться запятая. Разве не так?


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## Maroseika

Etcetera said:


> A correction: no comma is needed after тебе.
> Well, there can be a comma, actually, but only as a means of special emphasis.
> .


Sorry, but I guess in the last case there can be only a dash, but not a comma.


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## Maroseika

Crescent said:


> Etcetra, я согласна, что после "тебе" запятая не нужна, но вот после перед "что", может быть понадобится? Мне всегда казалось, что перед "что" ставиться запятая. Разве не так?


Далеко не всегда, но в данном случае запятая нужна, потому что *что* здесь союз.
А в моём предложении - нет, т.к. *что* в нём - часть союза *потому что*, и запятая ставится перед ним.


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## Ptak

"Спасибо тебе за то, что ты есть" is correct variant.


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## Crescent

Maroseika said:


> Далеко не всегда, но в данном случае запятая нужна, потому что *что* здесь союз.
> А в моём предложении - нет, т.к. *что* в нём - часть союза *потому что*, и запятая ставится перед ним.



Oh, I see now! That makes sense, Maroseika! Thank you very much for the explanation.


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## Grefsen

Maroseika said:


> As far as I know, beginning with 10-12 flowers this rule doesn't work (who will count???).
> But you never know, so better to follow this rule scrupulously.


The last time I gave flowers to a Russian woman she was extremely impressed by the fact that I gave her 11 and not 12.    It most definitely was a "win - win" situation for me too because I also had lunch that day with a French friend who was celebrating her birthday and giving her a single red rose along with a personalized gift from Norway was absolutely perfect.


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## Grefsen

Maroseika said:


> Далеко не всегда, но в данном случае запятая нужна, потому что *что* здесь союз.
> А в моём предложении - нет, т.к. *что* в нём - часть союза *потому что*, и запятая ставится перед ним.



"Spasibo" to everyone for their replies.  Unfortunately I can't take the time to respond right now because I don't yet understand the cyrillic alphabet and also have to get ready for work soon.  However, I will attempt to do a cyrillic to latin alphabet conversion/translation later this afternoon when I have more time (please let me know what websites I can use to do a cyrillic to latin alphabet conversion/translation even if I don't understand cyrillic at all.).  

If anyone has the time to help me with this conversion/translation , then it might even be possible for me to write the card and get it off in the mail today before the last mail pickup.  "Spasibo!!"


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