Why Bom dia, bonjour, buon giorno but Buenos Dias, plural in Spanish?

Question

Can anyone explain how this salutation evolved to be plural in Spanish only. Other romance languages Portuguese, French, Italian are happy with "good day" not "good days." Any ideas how this came about?

Answer 1

For some reason the Latin words surviving in Spanish come from the accusative in Latin, with the result that “bueno” comes from “bonu(m)” and “buenos” from “bonos”, accusative plural. Something similar happens with “dias”: the fifth declension classical Latin word “dies/-ei” became the Vulgar Latin word “dia/a”, a first declension word, the accusative plural of which was “dias”. “Buenos días” thus comes from the Vulgar Latin “bonos dias” and the fact that it is expressed in the plural rather than the singular is an idiosyncracy of the language, just as wile in Spanish one asks:”¿qué hora es?” (singular), while in Portuguese it is “que horas são”, (plural).

Answer 2

Great question - I've been wondering for a couple of years now and my Spanish friends and colleagues are unable to help me. You get a similar singular / plural divide in 'What time is it?': French, English, Spanish in the singular, but Portuguese 'Que horas são?' and Italian 'Che ore sono?' are both plural.

Happy Easter appears plural in Spanish - Felices Pascuas, but singular in Portuguese - Boa Pascoa and I'm sure there are many other examples.

I too hope someone can explain why.

Answer 3

You have the option to say:
Buen dia or buenos dias- if there is only one person.

Buenos Dias- If there are more than one person there.

Buenos dias- hoping that the person has more than one good day. Like saying salutations, why not just say salutation?

Answer 4

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English – Hello (formal), Hi (informal), Whazzup? (very informal) French – Salut (informal, silent "T"), Bonjour (formal) Bahamas – Hello (formal), Hi and Hey (informal), What you sayin Buyh (very informal - slang) German – Hallo (informal), Guten Tag (formal) Bavarian – Grüß Gott (Gruess Gott), Servus (informal, also means "goodbye", pronounced zair-voos) Northern German – Moin Moin Spanish – Hola (pronounced without the H sound, ola)– Buenos Días (morning), Buenas Tardes (afternoon and early evening), Buenas Noches (late evening) Slovak – Dobrý deň [dobrii dyeny] Welsh – Helo Tsonga (south Africa) – Minjhani (when greeting adult people)– Kunjhani (when greeting your peer group or below your age) Japanese – Ohayou gozaimasu (O-HA-YOH GO-ZA-EE-MAS) (Morning); Konnichi wa (KOHN-NI-CHEE-WA) (Daytime or Afternoon); Konban wa (KOHN-BAHN-WA)(Evening); Moshi Moshi (MO-SHE MO-SHE) (When answering the phone) Italian – Ciao (informal), Salve, Buon giorno (Morning, formal), Buon pomeriggio (Afternoon, formal), Buona sera (Evening, formal) Swedish – Hej (informal), God dag (formal) Arabic-based languages – As-salaam-aleykum (Peace be on you) or Marhabah (Hello) Arabic – Sabbah-el-Khair (Good morning) Masaa-el-Khair (good evening); note that (Kh) is pronounced from the back of the throat. Persian – Salaam or Do-rood (see note above - Salaam is an abbreviation, the full version is As-salaam-o-aleykum in all Islamic societies) Hindi – Namaste (pronounced Na-mus-thei) Korean – Ahn nyeong ha se yo (formal), Ahn nyeong (informal. Can also be used as "Goodbye") Dutch – Hoi (very informal), Hallo (informal), Goedendag (formal) Russian – Pree-vyet (informal), Zdravstvuyte (formal, pronounce: ZDRA-stvooy-tyeh) Chinese, Mandarin – Ni Hao(Nee HA-oh) Chinese, Cantonese – Nei Ho Hebrew – Shalom (which means hello, goodbye and peace) Hi (informal) Norwegian – Hei Portuguese – "Oi" or "Alô" (informal), Bom dia (good morning), Boa tarde (good afternoon), Boa Noite (good evening) Danish – Hej (informal) God dag (formal) Burmese – Mingalarbar Turkish – Merhaba (Formal) Naber? (Informal) Lithuanian – Laba diena (formal) Labas, Sveikas (informal male) Sveika (female) Sveiki (plural) Vietnam – Chao Filipino – Kumusta Ka (How are you) Esperanto – Saluton Tamil – Vanakkam Swahili – Jambo Lingala – Mbote Indonesian – Selamat Pagi (Good Morning), Selamat Siang (Good Afternoon), Selamat Malam (Good Evening) Nepali – Namaskar Polish – Dzień dobry (formal), Cześć (informal) Hawaiian – Aloha Local Hawaiian Pidgin – 'Sup braddah! Thai – Sawa dee-ka (if you're a girl)/ Sawa dee-krap (if you're a guy) Hungarian, Magyar – Jo napot [yoh (as in the word "oh") naput](Good-day, formal), Szervusz [Sairvoose] (informal) Czech – Dobry rano (until about 8 or 9 a.m.), Dobry den Ukranian – Dobriy ranok (formal)- Good Morning, Dobriy deyn (formal) - Good Afternoon, Dobriy vechir (formal)- Good Evening, Pryvit (informal) Latvian – Labdien, sveiki, chau (informal sound like in Italian) Finnish – Hyvää päivää (formal) - Moi / Hei (Informal) Greek – Yia sou (Ya-soo) (informal), yia sas (formal) Icelandic – Góðan dag (formal), Hæ (informal) Pig Latin – Ellohay Malayalam – Namaskkaram Urdu – Adaab Telugu – Baagunnara (how are you) (formal) Chichewa – Moni Bambo! (to man) / Moni Mayi! (to woman) Oshikwanyama – Wa uhala po, Meme? (to woman) / Wa uhala po, Tate? (to man) (response: ee) Nawa tuu? (response: ee) (formal) Ongaipi? (how is it? - informal) Nahuatl – Niltze, Hao Hacker/1337 – |-|3||0 or |-|1 Croatian – Bok (informal), Dobro Jutro (Good Morning), Dobar Dan (Day), Dobra Većer (evening), Laku Noć (Good Night) Navajo – Ya'at'eeh. (Hello!) Maltese – Merħba (welcome), Bonġu (Good Morning), Bonswa (or) Il-lejl it-tajjeb (Good Evening) Congo – Mambo Jibberish – Huthegelluthego, H-idiguh-el l-idiguh-o (hello,formal), H-diguh-i(hi, informal), H-idiguh-ow a-diguh-re y-idigah-ou? (how are you?)Jibberish Senegal – Salamaleikum (see 11.) German-speaking parts of Switzerland – Grüzi! (Grew-tsi) Scanian – Haj (universal), Hallå (informal), Go'da (formal), Go'maren (morning greeting), Go'aften (evening greeting) Luxembourgish – Moïen (MOY-en) Samoan – Talofa (Formal), Malo (informal) Tongan – Malo e leilei Tahitian – Ia Orana Tetum (Timor - Leste)– Bondia (Good Morning), Botarde (Good Afternoon), Bonite (Good Evening) Maori – Kia ora Romanian – Salut; Buna dimineata/ziua/seara (respectful good morning/day/evning); Buna (usually for girls) Gujrathi – Kem Che Marathi – Namaskar Surfer – 'tsup? South African English – Hoezit (Howzit) (Informal Greeting) Lao – Sawa dee krap/ka Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) – Kwe Kwe (Gway gway) Serbian – Zdravo (informal), Dobro jutro (Good morning), Dobar dan (Good afternoon, also used as a formal greeting), Dobro veče (pronounced as "dobro vetche", means Good evening), Laku Noć (Good Night) Kannada Namaskara Mongolia – Sain baina uu? SA-YEN BAYA-NU(Formal); Sain uu? SAY-NU(Informal); Ugluunii mend (Good morning, pronounced as 'oglony mend', 'o'sound like 'old'); Udriin mend (Good afternoon, pronounced as 'odriin mend', again 'o'sound like 'old'); Oroin mend (Good evening, pronounced as 'oroin mend', but here 'o' sound like 'orc') Slovenian: živjo (informal(ž sounds like zh); dobro jutro (good morning); dober dan (good afternoon); dober večer (good evening (č sounds like ch in chips) Gaeilge: Dia Dhuit (informal(Pronounced Dee ah ghouit) Literal Translation God be with you. Kurdish: Roj Bas ( ROHZJ BAHSH) Bengali: Salamwalaikum (see 14) Igbo: Nde-ewo (pronounced enday aywo; Nna-ewo (pronounced enna wo)

Answer 5

You can also say in Spanish "Buen día".