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- "Buona notte!"
30 Comments
What's the difference between 'buona notte' and 'buonanotte'? Are they completely interchangeable, or is there any difference?
I've been wondering, is buona notte used as a "goodbye" at nighttime, or can it be used as a "hello" at night? The way Aloha in Hawaiian can mean either?
Second generation here: I've heard it solely used as a goodbye, never as a hello, you'd be better off saying bounasera/good-evening.
I am interested too since "Buenas Noches" (Good Night) IS a greeting in spanish aswell.
That's pretty insightful, actually; I've never thought of that! However, we don't say "goodnight" as a nighttime greeting in English, so I'd say it's probably a no in Italian too.
(indirectly related) However, "Good morning!"/"Good evening" and the abbreviated forms "Morning!"/"Evening" are (I think).
They are, but I personally don't like to do that because I think it sounds lazy and, consequently, less than sincere.
I think your conclusion is correct (if I remember correctly from my college Italian course), but your reasoning (it's that way in English, so it's probably that way in Italian) is not (else Buenas noches in Spanish would never be used as a greeting). To add to the discussion a little bit, "buona sera" is generally a good greeting instead. It's pretty equivalent to "good evening." I'm not sure if you'd say it at, say, 2:00 am though.
Penso che sia meglio dire buona sera . Buona notte e quando ci andiamo a dormire.
Hm, I thought that was peculiar to the English language, where we think anything "am" is morning and anything "pm" is not. I didn't think that was true in other languages; I was under the impression that 2:00 am is not considered morning in Italian. I could be wrong though.
Well, Italy is actually on a 24 hour day, but "buona notte" is considered a farewell. Someone is probably going to bed. You could say "Buon giorno" for "Hello" at "due ora di mattina", but perhaps "Ciao" or "Salve" might be more useful then, unless the situation is actually not informal? http://www.wikihow.com/Say-Hello-in-Italian http://italian.about.com/cs/travel/ht/telltimeitalian.htm http://italian.about.com/library/survival/blsurvival004.htm http://italian.about.com/library/survival/blsurvival002.htm
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buongiorno https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/buona_notte
@allintolearning I'm not disputing that buon giorno is used for good morning, but the thing is, I don't think "due" (on a 24-hour clock) is considered mattina--I think it's considered notte. I read the links, and the first one said on the one hand that buon giorno is for AM, but then said that notte is midnight to early morning, which is also AM. It's not clear. But I think that when we're not speaking English anymore, we have to break out of our paradigm that the entire period from midnight until noon is "morning."
It may also differ by region. For example, in some regions you say "buon giorno" until noon, but in some you can say it early afternoon as well.
My own two cents: As a native European Portuguese speaker, "two in the morning" would be and is said as «duas da manhã». Since Italian is a fellow Romance language, I do not see why it would not also be said as «due della mattina».
13
I Beg To Differ, I'd Say The Morning Doesn't Start Atleast Until The Sun Rises, Midnight Is Meant To Be The Middle Of The Night, And Surely Morning And Night Don't Overlap.
Is there a reason that the adjective ending isn't the same as the ending as the noun? i.e. "Buona notte!" instead of "buone notte!"?
Yes, because «la notte» is the singular form, and «le notti» is the plural. Just because a noun ends in «e» does not mean it is automatically feminine plural. :)
- 13
Are You Sure "Le" Is Used For The Plural? I Think I Read Somewhere That '-e' Ending Singular Words Always Took The Masculine Plural Pronoun, No Matter Their Gender.
Where did you read that?
I am 100% positive. Here is a link that shows that «notti» comes with «le» before it. Also, there is another sentence here on Duolingo that starts with «Le nuove generazioni...».
P.S. Also, why do you capitalize the first letter of every word?
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Duo accepted buonanotte, but told me I am missing a space, even though it has always been one word until now. I guess I'll report it. It seems like it should accept either (without comment).
- 13
It Is Not, Because Evening Is A Different Time, Coming Before Night, In Italian "Good Evening" Would Be "Buonasera"
? Is this right...During "Tips", is it correct that some adjectives placed before the noun do not have the adj.last 'A' if BEFORE noun, but adj. does if AFTER noun. e.g. buon notte, vs. notte buonA...?
