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- "Bonan nokton!"
"Bonan nokton!"
Translation:Good night!
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In many languages like German you don't use "good night" unless you or the person you're speaking to is literally going to bed. Is that the same case in Esperanto?
I am a native English speaker, and I say goodnight as a polite way of leaving during the later hours. We also say it when someone is going to go to bed. However, "Good afternoon!" and,"Good morning!" are more like greetings. Maybe it's a difference between countries.
True I do hear it a lot during late hours, yet like any other Germanic language that's an informal way of saying goodbye. Well unless you come from America.
"goodnight" = tells me I'm almost correct for missing a space, which does not allow me to report it as a possible alternative.
I agree. To paraphrase Tolkien, are you saying it is a good night, or a night on which to be good, or wishing that I have a good night? If it's the last one, "Goodnight" should be acceptable.
It's a shortened form of "Mi deziras al vi bonan nokton" - I wish you a good night. If it were "it is a good night" it would be "Estas bona nokto".
I think I read somewhere that when using "estas" at the beginning of the sentence, the "it" is built in. So, you don't need the Gi before it.
I thought adjectives end with an 'a' why is it 'bonan' with the letter 'n' at the end?
The n is what's known as the accusative case, which goes on the part of the sentence which is the object. The whole sentence would be "Mi deziras al vi bonan nokton" so the good night part is the object of the sentence and therefore gets the n. It allows you to play with the word order of the sentence but retain the same meaning.
It's used when leaving; if you're greeting, you'd use "Bonan vesperon." It's just like in English - "Good evening" when greeting, "Good night" when leaving.
Night: 'The period between sunset and sunrise, when a location faces far away from the sun, thus when the sky is dark.' Esperanto = Nokto
Evening: 'The period of time at the end of the day, usually from about 6 p.m. to bedtime.' Esperanto = Vespero
Also, "bonan nokton" (from what I've heard) is the same as English; you only use it when the person you're talking to is going to bed.
Adjectives and nouns always have to agree (have the same ending) - bona nokto/bonan nokton/bonaj noktoj/bonajn noktojn
Nokto is the subject form. Nokton is the accusative, or object form. The full sentence is Mi deziras al vi bonan nokton” or “I wish to you a good night”. The “good night” is what’s being wished, so it is the object of the sentence and thus is in the accusative case. All nouns in Esperanto work this way, where the singular subject ends in -o and the singular object ends in -on.
When I say Good night!, it gives an alternative solution being the same thing I typed, even the exclamation point. I think it's suppose be be Goodnight!?
