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[MusicalDragon]

Helo pawb!

One of my friends wants me to learn how to say, "Have a nice life" in Welsh. (The phrase has been an ongoing joke between us.)

However, I'm not sure which form of "have" is correct and how you would change it for a command. (I'm assuming it functions like a command, (You) have a nice life, or (You) Have a cookie.)

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Aran]

This is a mis-match, I'm afraid - it just doesn't work like that in Welsh, so we just don't say things exactly like that. It's very common (and eye-wateringly wrong!) to see learners crossing their fingers and going for 'Cael diwrnod da!', but it's a complete non-starter.

You can do a fairly close 'like for like' by switching to 'gobeithio gei di/gewch chi' - even that isn't really 'right', because it ought to be 'dwi'n gobeithio', but you'll hear it very often indeed. So, 'gobeithio gei di ddiwrnod braf'. Alternatively, you'd need to switch tactics altogether and say something like 'Mwynha dy ddiwrnod!'...

[sumsmeister]

Really good example of where a language "fails" to map, word for word, onto another one. Reminds me that you can say one word in German for the "Captain of the Danube steamship company" :-
Donau-dampfschifffahrts-gesellschafts-kapitän. Hyphenated, yes, but one word.
It's not quite the same idea, but a parallel one, as it highlights a practice common in one language that doesn't necessarily happen in another. That's not the longest German word, but it's pretty substantial..

[cwmgoch]

It's very common (and eye-wateringly wrong!) to see learners crossing their fingers and going for 'Cael diwrnod da!', but it's a complete non-starter.

I'm sure I've plumped for that on more than a few occasions, so diolch for that Aran! I will definitely start using 'Mwynha dy ddiwrnod' instead.

[Lurch2]

Just to point out this question normally comes up as a query about "have a nice day!", which is what Aran slipped back into translating.

Assuming the same form is valid, presumably something like "mwynha dy fywyd!" (bywyd) ?

Unless there is a more natural word for "lifetime/life" in this context.

*In other words, don't trust what I say!

Edit- as for "have a cookie", I think the word "cymryd" - that is, 'to take' - would be used in the imperative. So some combination of "cymer" or "cymera" (or cymerwch!) (?) along with "bisged", "bisgeden" or "bisgïen"?

Something like "cymer fisgeden" ?

*I refer you to the above.

[Aran]

Assuming the same form is valid, presumably something like "mwynha dy fywyd!" (bywyd) ?

Spot on, and good catch! [Note to self: read more carefully].

And yes, with biscuits and cups of tea and so on it's normal to say 'Take a...' - so cymer/cymerwch (or more casually cym/cymwch)...

[MusicalDragon]

Thanks, everyone! I thought that this one wouldn't be a very tidy translation, but thanks for the help!

[MikeEllwood]

Really good example of where a language "fails" to map, word for word, onto another one. Reminds me that you can say one word in German for the "Captain of the Danube steamship company" :-
Donau-dampfschifffahrts-gesellschafts-kapitän. Hyphenated, yes, but one word.
It's not quite the same idea, but a parallel one, as it highlights a practice common in one language that doesn't necessarily happen in another. That's not the longest German word, but it's pretty substantial..

Yes, I was looking recently for a German equivalent of "an accent you could cut with a knife", and what I found in dict.cc (which usually offers colloquial expressions where they exist) just had the literal German for "to speak with a thick accent". There almost certainly is a colloquial way to say it, but "cut with a knife" doesn't cut it.

[daioni]

Donau-dampfschifffahrts-gesellschafts-kapitän. Hyphenated, yes, but one word.

Not hyphenated - sorry.

[sumsmeister]

Donau-dampfschifffahrts-gesellschafts-kapitän. Hyphenated, yes, but one word.

Not hyphenated - sorry.

Thanks, daioni, long time no talk to, unfortunately
I checked it on Wikipaedia or a similar source, I believe, so was led astray, the hyphens were to facilitate understanding, then, by separating recognizable words which are simply cemented together in German proper. Should have known not to trust a non-German online resource...