# All Slavic Languages: Have a nice day



## Natabka

Hello, foreros!

In this thread we have been having a discussion about Ukrainian and Russian ways of greeting somebody vs. saying "Have a nice day!" Have a look:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1233110

It has occurred that similar things have been discussed in the Russian subforum:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1115443

I say that both in Russian and in Ukrainian we usually say "Добрый день" (ru) /"Добрий день" (uk) to say hello and "Хорошего дня" (ru)/"Гарного дня" (uk) to end the conversation by wishing a nice day. 

The question is:
What could be the Ukrainian equivalents to the Russian phrase "хорошего дня!"? Can "доброго дня!" (uk) be used in this case?

Moderator note:
Natabka asked me to broaden the topic; thus the question now is:
*Is the phrase "Have a nice day!" common in other Slavic languages for ending a conversation? *That is, a phrase with "nice/good" plus "day" for saying _good bye_ - similar to the English phrase.
sokol


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## Xopxe

Both Гарного дня and доброго дня have an air of being not colloquial, a bit unnatural. Гарного дня is a correct "literature" form. Доброго дня in Russian sound even more unnatural.


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## Natabka

Xopxe said:


> Both Гарного дня and доброго дня have an air of being not colloquial, a bit unnatural. Гарного дня is a correct "literature" form. Доброго дня in Russian sound even more unnatural.



Of course these phrases are not colloquial!  It's neutral language and quite natural! What would you say, Хорхе, to somebody when you want to wish them "Have a nice day!" ? I would say "Гарного дня!"

Anyway, in the thread in the Russian subforum they say that "хорошего дня" sounds odd when greeting somebody but may be used at parting - not in the colloquial context, of course. I have assumed that its English equivalent is "Have a nice day". In Ukrainian this phrase is also not very common - I mean, I don't hear everyone whishing a nice day when saying good-bye. With my friends we never use this phrase. It it common to wish a "nice" holiday/weekend/trip, etc. but not "day". Though, when you were to say "Хорошего дня" (Have a nice day?) in Ukrainian, would it be "Доброго дня/Гарного дня" or something else?


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## Xopxe

Have a nice day! - это американизм; если вам необходимость именно _так_, по-американски высказаться, то подходит и _доброго дня_ и _хорошего дня_. Но звучит ненатурально все-таки и по-украински и по-русски. Здесь, во Львове можно сказать  на прощание "_Гарного дня_" и это не будет звучать очень искуственно, просто не совсем обычно.


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## Azori

In Slovak, when saying good-bye, one can hear: "Príjemný/Pekný zvyšok dňa!" Literally meaning "a pleasant/nice rest of the day." Also "Pekný deň prajem." is sometimes used instead of "Dobrý deň."


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## trance0

Direct translation into Slovene would be: "Želim ti lep dan", or simply "Lep dan!".


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## DarkChild

In Bulgarian it's приятен ден/priyaten den.


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## dudasd

Хорхе is right, it sounds English. In Serbian it's rather unusual to say "Želim ti prijatan/lep dan", though it can be heard, as well as "Prijatan dan želim" (this one I hear among older people, so I guess it can be infuelce of German). When departing or leaving, we use just "Prijatno!" (Meaning both "good bye" and "have a nice day".)


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## sokol

trance0 said:


> Direct translation into Slovene would be: "Želim ti lep dan", or simply "Lep dan!".


But do you think this is used? Or do you think it is newly used and wasn't used in former times?

I am rather sure that I've never heard "Želim ti lep dan", but I might have heard "Lep dan!" - I'm not sure though.


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## trance0

"Želim ti lep dan" would be more formal. I use it occasionally when I want to be more polite or for stylistic reasons. "Prijeten dan!" or "Želim ti/vam prijeten dan!" are also frequently used. It is true that you would hardly ever hear the longer versions with "želim".


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## Ptak

Xopxe said:


> Have a nice day! - это американизм; если вам необходимость именно _так_, по-американски высказаться, то подходит и _доброго дня_ и _хорошего дня_. Но звучит ненатурально ... по-русски.


I agree.


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## texpert

lior neith said:


> In Slovak, when saying good-bye, one can hear: "Príjemný/Pekný zvyšok dňa!" Literally meaning "a pleasant/nice rest of the day." Also "Pekný deň prajem." is sometimes used instead of "Dobrý deň."


 
Same in Czech: _Příjemný zbytek dne _or _přejeme vám hezký den_. But it is a typical phrase to hear on the radio and I always find it a bit pretentious in real conversations. It is not infrequent, though.


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## jbird74

BCS (Croatian) -> ugodan dan, želi ti ugodan dan, imaj ugodan dan, prijatan dan

Typical phrase, ugodan dan.


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## Natabka

Hmm, so what do we have here? Judging from the comments posted so far, it seems we can generalise the discussion like this:

Not common in:

*Ukrainian*
*Serbian*
*Russian*
*Czech *(pretentious 
in real conversation
 - #12 by Texpert)

Used in:

*Slovak *
*Bulgarian*
*Croatian*
*Slovene* (the long form is uncommon/formal (#10 by trance0) but the short one - "lep dan" - is used)

And if used, can we say that generally this phrase is more formal in Slavic languages than in English?


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## sokol

You can add "Slovene" to those where it is used: the long form is not very common (or rather formal, as explained by trance0), but the short one - "lep dan" - is.


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## Natabka

Thanks, Sokol, I've done it!


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## trance0

It sounds more formal in Slovene than in English, that is true.


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## texpert

Natabka said:


> Not common in:
> 
> 
> *Czech *(pretentious
> in real conversation
> - #12 by Texpert)
> 
> And if used, can we say that generally this phrase is more formal in Slavic languages than in English?


 

Hi there,
perhaps some people would not find it so _pretentious_ as me (those indulging in courtesies). But it is prevalently heard on the radio and in diplomatic circles  
To me, the resume in definitely true. I frequently say "have a nice day" in English but almost never in my mother tongue.


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## Azori

In Slovak it does sound more formal than in English, but still it is not that unusual as it seems to be in Czech. Even today I've heard from a friend of mine "Želám ešte príjemný zvyšok soboty." But I must say I find the Czech version somewhat more formal. I wouldn't say pretentious, just for some reason it sounds more formal to me in Czech.


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## texpert

The same goes for me. One usually hears more kind wishes in Slovakian in a minute than during an hour long conversation in Czech. 
But listen folks, I chicken out. No more _pretentious _quotes, please. I don't speak for all Czechs here 
Just an observation of a lifelong BBC enthusiast:
"have a nice day" usage ratio in real/radio talk is about
5:1 in English
1:5 in Czech. 
Then again - to mess things up a bit - Czechs and possibly other Slavs would use some other phrase at the moment when the English speaker says his _have a nice day_. The first that comes to mind is _*měj(te) se (hezky, dobře)*_ (_have a good time_ - said especially when parting) that can serve as a perfect substitute and could even be translated as "have a nice day" at times.


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## Azori

There's also "Maj(te) sa" in Slovak, and it's quite common.


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## Heroj_MKD

In Macedonian:
пријатно, пријатен ден, ти посакувам пријатен ден, ви поскаувам пријатен ден


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## TriglavNationalPark

lior neith said:


> There's also "Maj(te) sa" in Slovak, and it's quite common.


 
In colloqual Slovenian, you can often hear "Mej se!" and "Mejte se!", presumably a short form of "Imej(te) se lepo" = "Have a nice time."


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