# Slovenian: have a nice day



## mikasa_90

What stand for 'have a nice day' in slovenian?


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## hinko

Imejte se lepo! (have a nice time - formal)
Imej se lepo! (have a nice time - informal)

Želim vam lep dan! (I wish you a nice day - formal)
Želim ti lep dan! (I wish you a nice day - informal)


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

hinko said:


> Želim *V*am lep dan!


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## Irbis

I realy don't like capitalised version, it is feels to me like sucking up or commercial ad. Almost like like onikanje.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

Maybe but that is your personal view on the matter. "Vikanje" is our polite form. I refered to Hinko's "Želim vam lep dan! (I wish you a nice day - formal)". Therefore 'formal' demands capitalization.
Not capitalized it means you in plural. 

Btw, are we talking of singular or plural?


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## _Tasha_

Tolovaj_Mataj said:


> Maybe but that is your personal view on the matter. "Vikanje" is our polite form. I refered to Hinko's "Želim vam lep dan! (I wish you a nice day - formal)". Therefore 'formal' demands capitalization.
> Not capitalized it means you in plural.
> 
> Btw, are we talking of singular or plural?


 
As a matter of fact, writing personal pronouns (in formal letters, invitations, etc.) capitalized or not is your personal choice. In the contrary to common thinking, writing "Želim *v*am lep dan" (I wish you a nice day) is not disrespectful at all. Even though the pronoun takes plural form, it can mean both singular (vikanje) and plural. And it works perfectly fine in formal letters. The only difference between "*v*am" and "*V*am" is that the latter indicates higher respect and higher formality. It is written only in formal pieces of writing, and unless you are writing to someone in a very high position (eg. director of a company) you are allowed to use "*v*am" instead of "*V*am". But as I said, it is completely up to you, which form you like better or you find more appropriate. 

Please, note that this is not just my personal view on the matter, but it is according to orthography rules of standard Slovene.


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## skye

I only started noticing these capitalised versions several years ago and since I knew that capitalised versions of pronouns are used in German, I thought that it is an influence from German. I guess not. 

I'm still getting used to these capitalised versions, that is why I don't like them very much.


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## _Tasha_

Capitalised versions of pronouns have been present in Slovene for a long time. I cannot say whether they derive from German or not, but Tolovaj_Mataj's rule of writing capitalised pronouns in Slovene surely does follow the German rule. Whatever he was taught is now considered "old school". 

People stop noticing the capitalised versions because their use is declining. And because of their exceptional use, common people that receive invitations or e.g. (already printed) Christmas cards with capitalised pronouns find them a bit like sucking up or cheesy (like Irbis did). As I wrote earlier, you can use both versions in formal Slovene.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

_Tasha_ said:


> Whatever he was taught is now considered "old school".


Ok, it's been a long time since I finished elementary school, but does it mean I'm that old? 



_Tasha_ said:


> People stop noticing the capitalised versions because their use is declining. And because of their exceptional use, common people that receive invitations or e.g. (already printed) Christmas cards with capitalised pronouns find them a bit like sucking up or cheesy (like Irbis did).


 
Really? I've never noticed this. Whenever I see "vi" written like this, I understand it like the author means it in plural... "vabimo vas na novoletno srečanje" means to me like I can bring a bunch of friends with me, because everybody is invited. If someone wants exclusively me to attend, he/she should write "Vas". 
Old school yes or no, people here are loosing deferential manners rapidly these days.


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## _Tasha_

Tolovaj_Mataj said:


> Ok, it's been a long time since I finished elementary school, but does it mean I'm that old?
> 
> 
> 
> Really? I've never noticed this. Whenever I see "vi" written like this, I understand it like the author means it in plural... "vabimo vas na novoletno srečanje" means to me like I can bring a bunch of friends with me, because everybody is invited. If someone wants exclusively me to attend, he/she should write "Vas".
> Old school yes or no, people here are loosing deferential manners rapidly these days.


 
 Sorry, if I made you older than you really are. It's just that language is changing rapidly. I don't consider myself old, but even things that were written in my primary school textbooks may be "old school" by now. And as far as your latter comment is concerned, it may be only you that is invited to the new year's party.


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## hinko

So, when did they decide that capitalisation is no longer obligatory?


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## _Tasha_

Was it ever obligatory? Anyway, the latest _Pravopis_ says it is not.


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## hinko

I don't know, but from the conversation I got a feeling that it used to be obligatory and that it's not anymore. 
You are talking abut Toporišič and his Pravopis from 2001?


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## _Tasha_

I know that we were encouraged/taught to capitalise personal pronouns in formal letters, but I don't recall it was ever obligatory. 

Yes, I was reffering to the Pravopis from 2001. Why? Did I miss anything?


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## sokol

Back to the original question: I've thought the most common version to say 'have a nice day' would be 'dobro se imej(te)!' - and now I'm curious if my Slovenian education (mid 1990ies) is out of date or still valid.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

Sokol,
do not worry. You would be perfectly understood by people of your age. But for people half of your age you are an old fart having already one leg in a grave. _Ne ženi si tega k srcu._ 

Actually this "have a nice day" is a pretty young phrase here coming from English. In our long ago past  there it was "have a good time" phrase _dobro se imej(te)_ which is, of course still in use also these days.


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## skye

Well, hinko also suggested "imejte se lepo" in his first post, which is similar to "dobro se imejte", and he is half sokol's age.  And the rest was just debating about the capital letter in the word "vam".

Anyway, I'm always a bit at a loss, when it comes to translating such half idiomatic expressions like "have a nice day".


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## sokol

Well, if it's not incongruous with my age, I'll stick to it  and ...
... dobro se imejte.


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## _Tasha_

For this time of the year I suggest "lepe praznike".


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## sokol

_Tasha_ said:


> For this time of the year I suggest "lepe praznike".



Makes me wonder, wasn't it 'vesele praznike in dobro novo leto'? (When I was young, more or less. )
Whatever, I'm already being off topic, so to contribute to the question at hand: 'dobro se imej(te)' seems to be a little bit outdated, loan translations like 'imej(te) se lepo' seem to be more en vogue nowadays.

(You know, we had a good laugh at our teacher as he told us, back in the 1990ies, that Slovenians use(d) to say 'dobro se imejte' as this would translate into German as 'gehabt Euch wohl' which, by the way, is 19th century style and extremely outdated nowadays - it's never used anymore except ironically.)


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## skye

Srečno novo leto.


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## _Tasha_

"Vesele praznike" is also ok; however, we never say "dobro novo leto" but "srečno novo leto". And what is usually written on the Christmas cards is "Vesel božič in srečno novo leto!".


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