# Να 'στε καλά!



## Crescent

Hello to all! 

I was just wondering if someone could kindly tell what this means? :* Να 'στε καλά! *
You see, I would have gladly taken a stab at it myself, if I had the slightest clue of how to read Greek letters...

Thank you very much in advance! 

(P.S. And please tell me that this is actually...Greek, and I haven't just hidiously embarrassed myself in vain! )


----------



## balgior

Hello!

It litteraly means "be well", a way of thanking someone.

Please, for more details look here hxxp://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=650940

The difference between "Να 'σαι καλά" and "Να 'στε καλά" is that the the first one is addressed to you-1 person while the second one to you-plural or you-singular-formal way.


----------



## Crescent

balgior said:


> Hello!
> 
> It litteraly means "be well", a way of thanking someone.
> 
> Please, for more details look here hxxp://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=650940
> 
> The difference between "Να 'σαι καλά" and "Να 'στε καλά" is that the the first is addressed to you-1 person while the second to you-plural or you-singular-formal way.


Ah, thank you very much, balgior!! 

The truth is that this is the first time I'm using the Greek forum, so.. I really don't know much about it! 

Thank you again - yes, what you say makes perfect sense. The person who wrote this to me indeed adresses me in a singular-polite form. 

Could I just ask one small favour, please?
How would one say ''be well (to) you too'' using the same singular-polite form of adress? (Or, to be more precise, is there a set way of replying to such a comment, sort of - to wish the speaker the same ''be well'' ?..)

Thank you again very, very much!


----------



## anthodocheio

Hello Crescent! Welcome to the Greek forum, then!

Well, I supose you've read what's in the link Balgior gave you..

About an answer, I believe there's nothing set.. Actually, if you can find out from your context that the person who wrote it meant to thank you, you should answer as we answer to a "Thank you". "Your welcome", "It was a pleasure", "It was not a big deal", "Not to mention".. Things like that...


----------



## balgior

Well,  you could reply in Russian and let him/her find his/her way out! 

Now (getting a serious face), lets see...  i can't think of a standard way to reply to this, meaning "be well too". Here are some options:

a) Επίσης or Παρομοίως - the same goes to you
b) Παρακαλώ - you are welcome (if "Να 'στε καλά" was used to thank you)

Hmmm... not very creative, uh? Maybe you could wait for other opinions if not in a hurry. If I come up with anything else I'll let you know!


----------



## thelightchild

Hm... let me express my unpretentious opinion...
Maybe person who wrote that just doesn't know Greek... And just finished a letter in the way he knew, but actually meaning something like "sincerely yours"?... 

balgior, answering in Russian wouldn't help


----------



## anthodocheio

thelightchild said:


> Hm... let me express my unpretentious opinion...
> Maybe person who wrote that just doesn't know Greek... And just finished a letter in the way he knew, but actually meaning something like "sincerely yours"?...
> 
> balgior, answering in Russian wouldn't help


 
Well, that's true! It's a fine way to close a letter.
In that case, means nothing more than "I wish you all the best" or "I wish you to be well".
"Kai esy na eisai kala" = "I wish you too to be well" , is an accepteble answer... You have to fit it in the context, though..

All the best friends foreros


----------



## Tetina

I think the answer lies in which was the meaning of "na 'ste kala" because if it was said like "thank you" you cannot answer "paromios= the same goes for you". It's possible that also means "welcome" if you thanked him/her or just "best wishes".
I think the context must be clarified (if you don't want to say something funny).


----------



## Crescent

Hello to all! 

Gosh, thank you all so much for so many helpful answers! I now wish that I had even more links with Greek (I don't study it or anything, unfortunately..) in order to be able to come on the forums and have discussions with you wonderful people! 



> Well, you could reply in Russian and let him/her find his/her way out!
> 
> a) Επίσης or Παρομοίως - the same goes to you
> b) Παρακαλώ - you are welcome (if "Να 'στε καλά" was used to thank you)


 
Haha, that's a wonderful idea, Balgior, but I'm afraid that thelightchild is right: answering in Russian won't help at all! My correspondant knows Russian a lot better than he knows Greek..

Otherwise, thank you very much for your suggestions! It's a real pity that I won't even know how to pronounce these beautifully written words...
But at least I will be able to reply to him in a more...sophisticated way now! 
Ah, well the context is that I said initially, that I didn't know how to sign letters in Russian (despite it being my mother tongue ) and then my correspondant decided that it would be a good idea to give me a little Greek lesson.. Signing the letter off as Να 'στε καλά!
That's it! 

Thank you again to everyone for all your help!!


----------



## Tetina

> Ah, well the context is that I said initially, that I didn't know how to sign letters in Russian (despite it being my mother tongue ) and then my correspondant decided that it would be a good idea to give me a little Greek lesson.. Signing the letter off as Να 'στε καλά!
> That's it!


 
In this case a suitable answer would be: "Ke sis" = και σεις = you too (be well) [in curtesy plural]. After that you can use other things: 
"Ke sis, pollous xeretismous" =you too, many greedings = και σεις, πολλούς χαιρετισμούς.
"Ke sis, exete tis efxes mou" = you too, you have my wishes= και σεις, έχετε τις ευχές μου.
and many more....

_the red letters show the stress_


----------



## jaxlarus

Crescent said:


> How would one say ''be well (to) you too'' using the same singular-polite form of adress? (Or, to be more precise, is there a set way of replying to such a comment, sort of - to wish the speaker the same ''be well'' ?..)



Ηi, Crescent!

*Να 'σαι καλά* is a phrase I picked up while studying in Greece and kind of adopted, because I very much liked. Now, I'm a Cypriot and thus a native speaker of Greek, but here we don't usually use *να 'σαι καλά* in the sense of *thanks*. We either say *θένκκιου *or* θενξ *when talking to friends, or *ευχαριστώ*, which is standard for *thank you*. Now, I find *θένκκιου */ *θενξ *a bit weird to use and *ευχαριστώ *way too formal in most cases.

We do use *να 'σαι καλά* in the sense of *may you be well* [cf *здравствуй*(*те*) < *здравствовать*], like *Eσύ να ‘σαι καλά κι όλα τ’ άλλα διορθώνονται* – as long as you’re OK (healthy and strong), everything will be fixed (arranged).

Now, whenever I say *να ‘σαι καλά* – to a waiter or a salesman, for instance -, I get a *κι εσύ καλύτερα* reply, which means *and* [*may*] *you *[*be even*] *better*. I know it’s kind of late and that you’ve probably already written back to your friend, but it’s a good reply to have in mind next time. The formal / plural one would be *κι εσείς καλύτερα*.

 jax


----------



## Crescent

jaxlarus said:


> Ηi, Crescent!
> 
> *Να 'σαι καλά* is a phrase I picked up while studying in Greece and kind of adopted, because I very much liked. Now, I'm a Cypriot and thus a native speaker of Greek, but here we don't usually use *να 'σαι καλά* in the sense of *thanks*. We either say *θένκκιου *or* θενξ *when talking to friends, or *ευχαριστώ*, which is standard for *thank you*. Now, I find *θένκκιου */ *θενξ *a bit weird to use and *ευχαριστώ *way too formal in most cases.
> 
> We do use *να 'σαι καλά* in the sense of *may you be well* [cf *здравствуй*(*те*) < *здравствовать*], like *Eσύ να ‘σαι καλά κι όλα τ’ άλλα διορθώνονται* – as long as you’re OK (healthy and strong), everything will be fixed (arranged).
> 
> Now, whenever I say *να ‘σαι καλά* – to a waiter or a salesman, for instance -, I get a *κι εσύ καλύτερα* reply, which means *and* [*may*] *you *[*be even*] *better*. I know it’s kind of late and that you’ve probably already written back to your friend, but it’s a good reply to have in mind next time. The formal / plural one would be *κι εσείς καλύτερα*.
> 
> jax



Hello, Jax! 

It doesn't matter that its ''kind of late'' and that I've already written back to my friend, because even though this is true, it is always wonderful and interesting to learn new things which one may never know when one may need! 
I want to thank you for your very detailed explanation of the matters which were still slightly confusing to me, and although I regret not to be able to memorise everything which you've written in your post (due to my level-zero knowledge of Greek ) I have no doubt about it being useful to me later on as my correspondance with this friend continues. 

So - thank you enormously, and I especially appreciate the effort and the time you took to do this!


----------

