# All Slavic languages: What beautiful eyes you have!



## mateo19

Hello everyone,

I'm not exactly sure how to formulate this question, but I'm wondering how in Slavic languages, and specifically in Slovak, one expresses admiration or appreciation.  In English we would say, "*What* beautiful eyes you have" or "*How *you've grown since I last saw you!"  Or also with "what", "*What *a great game that was!"  How would you make this construction?

_Čo penký deň!_ ?  (What a beautiful day?)

Thank you very much!


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## slavic_one

Aký pekný deň!
Aké pekné oči máš!
Ako si narástol od keď som ťa poslední raz videl!
Aká super hra to bola!

Same in other slavic languages as far as I know.


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## mateo19

Ahoj Slavic One!

Ďakujem ti veľmi pekne za pomoc!

Chcel by som vedieť tiež, ako sa to povie po chorvátsky?
(I mean, if it's not too much trouble for you, could you also translate those sentences into Croatian?  I am very curious to see how similar they are.  Hvala!)

Maj sa pekne.  Matej


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## TriglavNationalPark

slavic_one said:


> Aký pekný deň!
> Aké pekné oči máš!
> Ako si narástol od keď som ťa poslední raz videl!
> Aká super hra to bola!
> 
> Same in other slavic languages as far as I know.


 


mateo19 said:


> Chcel by som vedieť tiež, ako sa to povie po chorvátsky?
> (I mean, if it's not too much trouble for you, could you also translate those sentences into Croatian? I am very curious to see how similar they are. Hvala!)


 
While we're waiting for slavic_one to post his Croatian translations, here's how these sentences look in Slovenian, if you're interested:

1. Either "Kako lep dan!" (with "kako" as an undeclinable interrogative adverb modifying "lep") or "Kakšen lep dan!" (with "kakšen" as a declinable interrogative adjective modifying "dan"). BTW, does anyone know which one is preferable?

2. "Kakšne lepe oči imaš!" (but "Kako lepe so tvoje oči!")

3. "Kako si zrasel odkar sem te zadnjič videl!"

4. "Kakšna krasna igra je to bila!"


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## slavic_one

mateo19 said:


> Ahoj Slavic One!
> 
> Ďakujem ti veľmi pekne za pomoc!
> 
> Chcel by som vedieť tiež, ako sa to povie po chorvátsky?
> (I mean, if it's not too much trouble for you, could you also translate those sentences into Croatian?  I am very curious to see how similar they are.  Hvala!)
> 
> Maj sa pekne.  Matej



Of course it's not problem for me, Croatian is my native language 

Kako/kakav krasan dan!
Kako/kakve krasne oči imaš!
Kako si narastao otkada sam te posljednji put vidio!
Kako/kakva je to bila odlična igra!


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## Piotr_WRF

In Polish you would use _ale_:

_*What* beautiful eyes you have!
*Ale* masz piękne oczy!
_

_Jaki_ and friends is also possible:

_*Jakie* piękne oczy masz!_


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## slavic_one

Piotr_WRF said:


> _*What* beautiful eyes you have!
> *Ale* masz piękne oczy!
> _



Isn't "ale" just to intensify the phrase?


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## Christo Tamarin

mateo19 said:


> what a beautiful day!


*Какъв хубав ден!*



mateo19 said:


> what beautiful eyes you have!


*Какви хубави очи имаш!*
*Какви са ти хубави очите!*




mateo19 said:


> how you've grown since i last saw you!


*Колко си пораснал(а) от последния път, когато те видях!*



mateo19 said:


> what a great game that was!


*Каква голяма (страхотна, добра) игра беше това!*


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## Piotr_WRF

slavic_one said:


> Isn't "ale" just to intensify the phrase?



Yes, _ale_ serves as a particle that intensifies the phrase but at the same time it also expresses amazement and admiration.


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## Thomas1

Piotr_WRF said:


> [...]
> _Jaki_ and friends is also possible:
> 
> _*Jakie* piękne oczy masz!_


I'd reorder the sentence a bit:
_Jakie masz piękne oczy!_

You could skip _masz _altogether too.


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## dudasd

Interesting, in Serbian we use "ala", similar to Polish "ale". But there are several ways for expressing the sentences given by mateo19:

Ala je divan dan! (How beautiful the day is!)
Kakav divan dan! (What a beautiful day!)
Kako je ovo divan dan! - or: Kako je divan (ovaj) dan! (Same as No1)

Ala ti imaš divne oči! (What beautiful eyes you have!)
Kakve divne oči imaš! (Same as No1)
Kako su ti divne oči! (Same as No1)
And even: Koliko su lepe tvoje/tebi oči! (How *much* beautiful your eyes are!)

Ala si porastao otkad sam te poslednji put video! (How you've grown... etc.)
Kako si porastao otkad sam te poslednji put video! (Same as No1)
Koliko si porastao otkad sam te poslednji put video! (How *much* you've grown... etc.)

Ala je to bila odlična igra! (What an excellent game it was!)
Kako je to bila odlična igra! (How excellent the game was!)
Kakva je odlična igra to bila! (Same as No1)


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## slavic_one

dudasd said:


> Interesting, in Serbian we use "ala", similar to Polish "ale". But there are several ways for expressing the sentences given by mateo19:
> 
> Ala je divan dan! (How beautiful the day is!)
> Kakav divan dan! (What a beautiful day!)
> Kako je ovo divan dan! - or: Kako je divan (ovaj) dan! (Same as No1)
> 
> Ala ti imaš divne oči! (What beautiful eyes you have!)
> Kakve divne oči imaš! (Same as No1)
> Kako su ti divne oči! (Same as No1)
> And even: Koliko su lepe tvoje/tebi oči! (How *much* beautiful your eyes are!)
> 
> Ala si porastao otkad sam te poslednji put video! (How you've grown... etc.)
> Kako si porastao otkad sam te poslednji put video! (Same as No1)
> Koliko si porastao otkad sam te poslednji put video! (How *much* you've grown... etc.)
> 
> Ala je to bila odlična igra! (What an excellent game it was!)
> Kako je to bila odlična igra! (How excellent the game was!)
> Kakva je odlična igra to bila! (Same as No1)



I wouldn't make connections between Polish "ale" and our (or Serbian only) "ala". Polish "ale" means our "ali" (English "but"). In Czech and Slovak "ale" is also used same as in Polish, and I'd say it's a bit different than our "ala".
It's more like we'd say "Ali ne, imaš baš lijepe oči!". That's my point of view.

Maybe some more example can clear it:
- Ty to już zrobiłeś? (Već si to napravio?)
- Ale nie! (Ali ne!)
could be only "nie", but for emphasize negation, "ale" is used.
If I'm wrong, please some Polish native can correct me.


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## dudasd

I just said that ale sounds similar to Serbian ala, and as the construction is identical (which you can't deny), it caught my eye. Polish is a mistery for me so I am allowed to guess, even if it's nonsensical, OK?  Btw, we have the case of "al'", which is shortened form both of "ala" and "ali" (compare: "Al' se nebo osmehiva / al' se reka plavi..."), so I wouldn't be surprised if a similar process lead to one form with two meanings in Polish. Just guessing again, of course.  I'd like to hear someone from Poland too, now I am curious.


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## Kolan

"*What* beautiful eyes you have" = *Какие* у тебя (дивные очи)/(прекрасные/красивые глаза).

"*How *you've grown since I last saw you!" = *Как* же ты вырос(ла) с тех пор, как я видел(а) тебя в последний раз.

"*What *a great game that was!" = *Какая* была великолепная/замечательная игра!

"*What* a beautiful day!" = *Какой* прекрасный/чуд(ес)ный день!


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## Piotr_WRF

dudasd said:


> Interesting, in Serbian we use "ala", similar to Polish "ale".





slavic_one said:


> I wouldn't make connections between Polish "ale" and our (or Serbian only) "ala". Polish "ale" means our "ali" (English "but").



Slavic_one is right that Polish _ale_ can mean English _but_. But this is not always the case. In an example like _Ale masz piękne oczy_ I wouldn't think of _ale_ as English _but_. _Ale_ is here a particle of amazement and admiration*. Well, having said this, without a given context this example of mine could very well mean _But you have beautiful eyes_ but I assume that most of the time it doesn't.

* A note about _ale_ expressing admiration: if the whole sentence is about something rather negative _ale_ can express aversion as well, e.g. _How ugly you are_ would be _Ale jesteś brzydki_.


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## Thomas1

Piotr, English _but _is also used as an itensive, and I would suppose our _ale _can be a good translation of it in some cases.

Tom


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## Piotr_WRF

Thomas1 said:


> Piotr, English _but _is also used as an itensive, and I would suppose our _ale _can be a good translation of it in some cases.



If you mean for example a sentence like _Come here but fast_, then of course you would translate it as _Chodź tu, ale szybko_, but in my example _Ale masz piękne oczy_ you wouldn't use _but_ in the translation into English.


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## slavic_one

dudasd said:


> I just said that ale sounds similar to Serbian ala, and as the construction is identical (which you can't deny), it caught my eye. Polish is a mistery for me so I am allowed to guess, even if it's nonsensical, OK?  Btw, we have the case of "al'", which is shortened form both of "ala" and "ali" (compare: "Al' se nebo osmehiva / al' se reka plavi..."), so I wouldn't be surprised if a similar process lead to one form with two meanings in Polish. Just guessing again, of course.  I'd like to hear someone from Poland too, now I am curious.



I didn't accuse you for that, It's good that you noticed that possible similarity, but I just gave my answer to that 
I must confess, I was thinking about that a lot. And to cut long story short (because otherwise I'd open a new thread about that), in some cases they have very similar meaning, but still I think Polish "ale" isn't equal to our "ala" neither in that case of intensifying the meaning of a sentance.



Piotr_WRF said:


> If you mean for example a sentence like _Come here but fast_, then of course you would translate it as _Chodź tu, ale szybko_, but in my example _Ale masz piękne oczy_ you wouldn't use _but_ in the translation into English.



- Would you give that to me?
- But of course!


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## Thomas1

Piotr_WRF said:


> If you mean for example a sentence like _Come here but fast_, then of course you would translate it as _Chodź tu, ale szybko_, but in my example _Ale masz piękne oczy_ you wouldn't use _but_ in the translation into English.


I wasn't sure so I asked: But used as an intensive.

It seems it is possible, but some speakers are not familiar with this usage.

Tom


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## Piotr_WRF

Thomas1 said:


> I wasn't sure so I asked: But used as an intensive.
> 
> It seems it is possible, but some speakers are not familiar with this usage.



Thanks, Tom, for this further enlightening. I didn't know you could use _but_ in this way. Still, it doesn't seem to be as familiar to English ears as _ale_ is to Polish speakers.


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