"يَوْم سَعيد!"
Translation:Have a nice day!
14 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
451
I've never heard this said by Arabic speakers, and I've certainly never said it in my life. I knew "Happy day!" was meaningless, but that was my answer, and it wasn't accepted.
1625
"Happy day" should definitely be accepted, report it. This is not something I've ever heard an Arab say either, and even if it theoritically were, we would have used the accusative and said "يومًا سعيدًا" and not the nominative.
451
I think someone thought, "How would you say 'Have a nice day' in Arabic?" Well, you just wouldn't, because it's not an Arabic expression.
1625
I wouldn't exactly say that سعيد is so high-brow a term that it would be unheard of to use it in dialect. I could describe a day as being يوم سعيد in the right context, most likely with a hint of irony, but not necessarily. I just wouldn't use this as a stand-alone expression to wish the cashier a "nice day" as I left a shop is all.
Learners will find that the line between Standard Arabic and Dialect is blurrier than it is first presented. MSA still forms a daily part of life and it's hard to imagine a day would pass by where you wouldn't borrow a single term from MSA into your dialect.