What is “Have a good weekend” in Japanese?
Everyone wonders how one might say “Have a good weekend” in Japanese.
Have a good weekend. = yoi shumatsu o. / tanoshii shumatsu o.
The full sentence is “yoi / tanoshii shumatsu o sugoshite kudasai.” We omit “sugoshite kudasai” (Please spend). But, make sure to keep “o” because it is important.
We often use this greeting “yoi shumatsu o. / tanoshii shumatsu o.”, but I think they are translated from English. We probably didn’t have these kinds of greetings in Japan before. This is because such greetings as "Have a good day”, “Have a good night” or “Have a good holiday" are rarely used in Japanese.
Have a good day. = yoi ichinichi o.
This is not strange, but I think it is not used that much.
There is no good Japanese translation for "Have a good night". We never say “yoi yoru o”. When you say goodbye to someone after 8pm or 9pm and if you will just go home and sleep, you can say “oyasuminasai” (Have a good sleep/ Sleep well). However, it is weird to say “oyasuminasai” around 6pm or 7pm and you will still have dinner or go out later on.
Furthermore, for "Have a good holiday." or "Have a nice trip." I think it would be more natural to say “yasumi o tanoshinde kudasai” (Enjoy your holiday) or “ryoko o tanoshinde kudasai” (Enjoy your trip), instead of “yoi yasumi o” or “yoi ryoko o”.