# Šťastné narozeniny



## mambo_italiano

by the way, what does "Stastne Nerozeniny" mean?


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## werrr

mambo_italiano said:


> By the way, what does "Šťastné narozeniny" mean?


It means *Happy birthday*.


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## K.u.r.t

Altough if you want to wish someone a happy birthday you would say "Vše(chno) nejlepší (k narozeninám)" meaning All the best (to your birthday).


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## Jana337

Yes, "šťastné narozeniny" is a calque. 

Jana


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## elroy

K.u.r.t said:


> Altough if you want to wish someone a happy birthday you would say "Vše(chno) nejlepší (k narozeninám)" meaning All the best (to on your birthday).


 All the best *to* you *on* your birthday.


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## chung

elroy said:


> All the best *to* you *on* your birthday.


 
Actually, K.u.r.t. is right.

The Czech expression is literally "all the best to birthdays" ('k' is a preposition that needs the dative while 'narozeninám' is the dative plural form of 'narozeniny' meaning birthdays. I don't know why Czechs, Poles and Slovaks express a birthday as a plural.)

The expression is part of the original "přeji všechno nejlepší k narozeninám". The verb 'přát' means to 'wish' and comes as "to wish sg (accusative) to sg else (dative)")

However elroy's translation is the one that sounds correct in English (but strange to a Czech).


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## K.u.r.t

You are right chung, I have never thought about it before but all the holidays are in plural.

vánoc*e*      christmas
velikonoc*e* easter
narozenin*y* birthday
jmenin*y*     nameday (day devoted to a catholic saint celebrated by a person with the same name on that day)


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## elroy

chung said:


> The Czech expression is literally "all the best to birthdays" ('k' is a preposition that needs the dative while 'narozeninám' is the dative plural form of 'narozeniny' meaning birthdays. I don't know why Czechs, Poles and Slovaks express a birthday as a plural.)


 There is rarely a one-to-one correspondence between prepositions across languages.  While certain translations are more common than others, each translation should depend on the particular context.

That's why prepositions are such a problem for learners of a language! 

Thank you for your interesting remarks.


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## Mysak

K.u.r.t said:


> You are right chung, I have never thought about it before but all the holidays are in plural.
> 
> vánoc*e*      christmas
> velikonoc*e* easter
> narozenin*y* birthday
> jmenin*y*     nameday (day devoted to a catholic saint celebrated by a person with the same name on that day)



Vánoce and velikonoce are both plural because they continue over a number of days. Narozeniny in a way makes just as much sense plural, because your birthday comes ever year, thus you're referring to all your birthdays! Likewise with the name day.


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