# To someone close, an informal ending to a message?



## Alvitr

Hi and first of all Thank You for an excellent, informative forum!

I am searching for a good translation to the English expression "Hugs and Kisses" or "lots of Hugs and Kisses" in Hungarian.

I am not sure if it make any difference in the Hungarian language, but in this case it would be a woman saying it to a man, and something like an informal ending in a message, letter or email.

Thanks


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## n-ray

Hi, 

Here are some typical endings, followed by remarks: 
Puszi (kiss): very informal, to really close friends
Sok puszi (lots of kisses): the same; these do not apply between two males
Ölel ('hugging you') or Csókol ('kissing you): to family members or to your girlfriend/boyfriend
Sokszor csókol ('many times kissing you'): the same
Szeretettel (With love): informal, to friends
Baráti öleléssel (with a friendly hug): informal, somewhat obsolete, between colleagues who entertain a friendly relationship 
Barátsággal (with friendship): the same (I think mainly males prefer it)
Üdv (Greetings, abridged): tending to gain excusivity in informal mailings, especially in emails, used by everybody
Üdvözlettel: the original form of üdv, but formal!

Note that we put a colon in front of an ending, so
Üdv:


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## Alvitr

Thank You very much, n-ray!
Then I have a little more to work with. 

With Ölel and Csókol, could I put an "és" between them (Ölel és Csókol: ... ) or would that make it sound strange?


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## Zsanna

It is a bit difficult to answer. 
In fact the entire topic of addressing other people is a very slippery field in Hungarian - apart from the few "stepping stones" that provide some safety here and there...

There is also a great difference between what goes according to the "proper" rules of the language and what can be accepted happily in practise.

You can see that n-ray wrote "or" between "Ölel" & "Csókol" - separating them because usually they don't appear together.
In my opinion the two (= ölel és csókol) would sound a bit strange, not really natural. 
(Reminds me a bit of old style letter endings from the 1920s.)

However, if the other person knows that it comes from somebody who made an effort to find the words in Hungarian, I'm sure he'd be happy to have them like this without any problem and would not give a toss about the "right usage" at all!  

I'd say that while a perfectly "smooth" term could (even) pass unnoticed, this would have the advantage of being personal, expressing exactly what you mean.
In other words, I would recommend it for that.


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