# Merry Christmas and Happy New Year



## Qcumber

How do you say "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" in Russian?


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## elephas

In Russian culture, these are very different holidays, they don't usually wish you with both at a time. Russians are predominantly Orthodox, the Orthodox Xmas comes later, after the NY; Jan 7 I believe.

 Christmas:
*Со Светлым Рождеством! 
Со Светлым Рождеством Христовым!
Светлого Рождества!
*
Now the New Year: oh, boy, so many ways to wish for a Happy New Year - this is *the* most important holiday in Russia...

*С Новым Годом! *- happiness here is implied.
*Счастья в Новом Году!
С Новым Годом, с Новым Счастьем!
*what else... Anyone?


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## Ptak

Happy New Year - С новым годом! (The most common variant)
Merry Christmas - С Рождеством! / Счастливого Рождества! (I wouldn't say that "*Светлого* Рождества" is common).


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## Qcumber

Thanks a lot to you all. Now I'll write my wish cards and post them as soon as possible since the Russian postal service is so slow.


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## jemiller1963

Hi Everyone!  Светлого Рождества!  ":^)

Is there a special way to say this to a female that I have a special relationship with?


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## Michael_Boy

jemiller1963 said:


> Hi Everyone!  Светлого Рождества!  ":^)
> 
> Is there a special way to say this to a female that I have a special relationship with?


Merry Xmas,darling?Is that what you want to say for example?Because there's nothing how you can express your feelings without calling her something like honey or dear or something.


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## jemiller1963

I'm thinking that you're right.  I would like to wish her a merry Christmas while expressing my feelings for her.  I know that gender is important but is it in this case?

Thanks!


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## Michael_Boy

jemiller1963 said:


> I'm thinking that you're right.  I would like to wish her a merry Christmas while expressing my feelings for her.  I know that gender is important but is it in this case?
> 
> Thanks!


Nope.There's no difference when you are using this phrase.Cause none of the words is verb which expresses the past time
so Merry Xmas,Dear! in russian would be
Дорогая,желаю тебе светлого Рождества!


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## Masha*

Хоть и обсуждали, а я все равно напишу:
Счастливого Рождества! Счастливого Нового года! (or just С Новым годом!)


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## Grefsen

Masha* said:


> Счастливого Рождества! Счастливого Нового года! (or just С Новым годом!)



For those of us who aren't able to use the cyrillic alphabet, would the following be the correct transliterations? 

*Schastlivogo Rozhdestva! Schastlivogo Novogo goda!  (S Novym godom!)*


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## Masha*

Grefsen said:


> For those of us who aren't able to use the cyrillic alphabet, would the following be the correct transliterations?
> 
> *Schastlivogo Rozhdestva! Schastlivogo Novogo goda! (S Novym godom!)*


 Yes! That's right!


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## Maroseika

Grefsen said:


> For those of us who aren't able to use the cyrillic alphabet, would the following be the correct transliterations?
> 
> *Schastlivogo Rozhdestva! Schastlivogo Novogo goda! (S Novym godom!)*


Not exactly. Should be something like that:
*Sh'aslivava Razhdistva! Sh'aslivava Novava goda! (S Novym godam!)*


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## Iesavef

Maroseika said:


> Not exactly. Should be something like that:
> *Sh'aslivava Razhdistva! Sh'aslivava Novava goda! (S Novym godam!)*



Hello!

Maroseika,  *Grefsen *asks about transliterations, not transcriptions. His version seems to be right!


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## Grefsen

Masha* said:


> Yes! That's right!





Iesavef said:


> Hello!
> 
> Maroseika,  *Grefsen *asks about transliterations, not transcriptions. His version seems to be right!



*Spasibo Masha & **Iesavef**!  

*It isn't possible for me to use the Cyrillic alphabet when I send SMSs to my Russian friends so I really appreciate it when transliterations are provided.


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## Grefsen

elephas said:


> Now the New Year: oh, boy, so many ways to wish for a Happy New Year - this is *the* most important holiday in Russia...
> 
> *С Новым Годом! *- happiness here is implied.
> *Счастья в Новом Году!
> С Новым Годом, с Новым Счастьем!
> *what else... Anyone?



What is the difference between these three New Year's Greetings?  

Also would the following be correct transliterations?

*С Новым Годом! *- *S Novym Godom!
*
*Счастья в Новом Году! - Schast'ja v Novom Godu!

С Новым Годом, с Новым Счастьем! - S Novym Godom, s Novym Schast'em!*


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## Iesavef

"S Novym Godom" - is the most common and universal greeting. You can say it f.ex. if you meet someone in the street the 1 of January: "Hello XXX! S Novym Godom!" Or if you type an SMS you can write "S Novym Godom" and add some wishes: "S Novym Godom, XXX! I wish you happiness in the year 2008"

"Schast'ya v Novom Godu" - is a kind of wishing happiness in the year to come, you can use it f.ex. with a frase to say "good bye" in a message.

"S Novym Godom, s novym schast'yem" - I'm not sure of the origin of the frase, but every Russian I suppose can assoutiate it with a very famose song from a very famose soviet new-year film. The sens is something like "Happy New Year and the new year means the new happiness" ...ufff... sounds horrid :-S 
I would not use this frase, it is a bit of childish.

I hope I haven't made it more complicated ) The transliterations I've put seem to me to be more correct, but here I'm not so sure.

S Novym Godom!


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## Russianer

qcumber said:


> how do you say "merry christmas and happy new year" in russian?


 
Поздравления с Рождеством, можно сказать:
"Поздравляю вас с Рождеством Христовым!" 
При этом не забывайте , что Русская православная церковь отмечает Рождество 7 января, а не 25 декабря как у католиков и протестантов.

Поздравления с новым годом, обычно поздравляют,говоря: "С новым годом!"


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