# Happy Mother's Day!



## Grefsen

I have two Russian friends who are both the mothers of two boys/young men.  Mother's Day is celebrated in the U.S. this Sunday and I would like to be able to wish them “Happy Mother's Day" in Russian.  

I realize that March 8 is the special day celebrated by women in Russian, but since one of these Russian women is now a U.S. citizen and the other has lived in the U.S. for over 12 years, they also celebrate all of the U.S. holidays and "Mother's Day" is a very special one here.  I  thought it would be nice to send them both cards that include an appropriate "Mother's Day" greeting in Russian. 

‘Spasbo’ in advance for your help.


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## dnldnl

We would say "С Днём Матери (Вас)!" - "S Dnem Materi (Vas)!"

  Note that in Russia, Mother's Day is celebrated on last Sunday of November, so you might have to congratulate your friends twice a year


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## Maroseika

dnldnl said:


> Note that in Russia, Mother's Day is celebrated on last Sunday of November,


Мда... Чего только не узнаешь.


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## Grefsen

dnldnl said:


> We would say "С Днём Матери (Вас)!" - "S Dnem Materi (Vas)!"



'Spasibo!'  What would be the literal English translation of *S Dnem Materi (Vas)*?
 


dnldnl said:


> Note that in Russia, Mother's Day is celebrated on last Sunday of November, so you might have to congratulate your friends twice a year



'Spasibo' for this information as well.    When I initially checked on the internet for information about Mother's Day in other countries I didn't happen to see anything about the "last Sunday of November" being Mother's Day in Russia.  Now I'm feeling a bit guilty since I spent time with one of these Russian friends last year on the last Saturday in November and had no idea the next day was Mother's Day in Russia.


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## Grefsen

Maroseika said:


> Мда... Чего только не узнаешь.



Would someone be so kind and translate this for me?  

'Spasibo' in advance!


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## Lemminkäinen

Grefsen said:


> 'Spasibo!'  What would be the literal English translation of *S Dnem Materi (Vas)*?



"With the day of the mother (your)". It's short for *Я позтравляю вас с Днём Матери*, or "I congratulate you with the Mother's Day".


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## Grefsen

Lemminkäinen said:


> "With the day of the mother (your)". It's short for *Я позтравляю вас с Днём Матери*, or "I congratulate you with the Mother's Day".



'Tusen takk!' errr  'Spasibo!'  (Since lately you have been giving me so much 'norsk' help on almost a daily basis, I temporarily forgot which forum I was in.  )

Unfortunately I'm still quite "Cyrillically Challenged" (CC), so I would appreciate it if you could also give me the latin version of *Я позтравляю вас с Днём Матери *as well.  Perhaps something is lost in translation, but I think I prefer using "I congratulate you with the Mother's Day" over "With the day of the mother" in the cards to my two friends.  
 
 I would also like to include in the card "Enjoy your special day with your sons" in Russian.  'Spasibo' again!  
 
'Skål!' (Cheers!)


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## Q-cumber

Lemminkäinen said:


> *Я позДравляю Вас с Днём Матери*.



Ja pozdravljaju Vas s Dnjom Materi!

"Я" (Ja "I") is normally omitted, because the conjugation of the verb (поздравляю) semantically includes "Я" already. 
I would say either "*C Днём Матери!*" or  "*Поздравляю Вас (тебя) с Днём Матери!*"

"Вас"/Vas (Вы/Vi), when used as a polite address to a singular person, begins from a capital letter.


*Grefsen*

You can use this site  for a Cyrillic - latin transliteration (and visa versa)


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## Maroseika

Grefsen said:


> Would someone be so kind and translate this for me?
> 
> 'Spasibo' in advance!


I was sincerely surprised that we have in Russia this odd holiday. Have never heard of anything like that.


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## Q-cumber

Maroseika said:


> I was sincerely surprised that we have in Russia this odd holiday. Have never heard of anything like that.



Neither have I.  I think this is just one of these formal holidays nobody actually knows or cares about.


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## Grefsen

Q-cumber said:


> *Grefsen*
> 
> You can use this site  for a Cyrillic - latin transliteration (and visa versa)



I really appreciate you making the effort to give me the link to this site, but since almost everything is written in Cyrillic, it is very confusing for me to use.   

After I enter the Cyrillic text, what are the next steps that I take to complete the translation?  There is a tab that says  *Rus* that is highlighted in *green*.  Do I next click on the tab to the left of it that says *Lat*?  If so, then what do I do next?

For example, I entered the following text and then clicked on the *Lat* tab.  

*C Днём Матери!

*Next I clicked on the "up arrow" located at the bottom right corner and then the text disappeated.  When I repeated the steps and clicked on the "down arrow" the same thing happened as well.  I also clicked on the *Rus* tab and repeated all the same steps and got the same frustrating results.  

 In the meantime, if it isn't too much trouble I would really appreciate it if someone could just give me the Latin version of *Я позтравляю вас с Днём Матери.
*
'Spasibo!'


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## Jana337

A suggestion: Install ToCyrillic or Russkey (more here). Also Lexilogos is good (scroll down for transliteration; interface in French but intuitive enough).


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## Lemminkäinen

Grefsen said:


> In the meantime, if it isn't too much trouble I would really appreciate it if someone could just give me the Latin version of *Я позтравляю вас с Днём Матери.
> *


*

Q-cumber already did (as well as correcting one of my typos):



Q-cumber said:



			Ja pozdravljaju Vas s Dnjom Materi!
		
Click to expand...


And here's a (stupid) question from me:




			"Вас"/Vas (Вы/Vi), when used as a polite address to a singular person, begins from a capital letter.
		
Click to expand...


So it's not possible to address a single person with вы (lowercase в)?*


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## Grefsen

Lemminkäinen said:


> Q-cumber already did (as well as correcting one of my typos):



Sorry, I missed seeing the latin version in the original post.   

 'Spasibo!' ('Tusen takk!)


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## Grefsen

Jana337 said:


> A suggestion: Install ToCyrillic or Russkey (more here). Also Lexilogos is good (scroll down for transliteration; interface in French but intuitive enough).



'Spasibo' for your suggestions.    I think Lexilogos is going to be a huge help for me.   http://lexilogos.com/clavier/russkij.htm


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## dnldnl

Lemminkäinen said:


> So it's not possible to address a single person with вы (lowercase в)?



I don't think so, because when you use Вы to address a single person, it is always formal. However, I beleive you could say вас (with lowercase в when speaking informally), since it is a plural form for both formal Вы and informal ты.


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## Q-cumber

Lemminkäinen said:


> So it's not possible to address a single person with (lowercase в)?



Well, actually it depends. In books (novels, etc.) , *"вы*" for a single person is more common. However, in a personal letter, a greeting card, an invitation, etc., *"Вы"* is obligatory. If otherwise, a letter might look somewhat impolite or ignorant. After all, "Вы" helps a respondent understand that he is addressed personally, because several people are normally addressed by using exactly  the same wording.  Occasionally, during verbal converations people are getting confused and ask: "Pardon, do you mean me personally or us?" 



dnldnl said:


> However, I beleive you could say вас (with lowercase в when speaking informally), since it is a plural form for both formal Вы and informal ты.



I never realised it is possible *to say* something uppercase.


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## Grefsen

*'Спасибо' everyone for all of your help!    I received some nice feedback **yesterday **from one of my good friends who was so very impressed that I had sent her  a Mother's Day greeting in **Russian**.  


*


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