Visitors may be surprised to discover that "please" doesn't work quite the same way across the Nordic countries – revealing a very different way of thinking about politeness.
In Scandinavian languages the same reason there’s no word for “please” in French, Dutch or Spanish.
Because having a short verb phrase does the trick just fine, there’s no need for a single word to develop.
And in Finnish because in Finland thanking is much more important than in Indo-European cultures and Finnish has built its equivalent of the word “please” directly into grammar.
What do you mean “directly into grammar” for Finnish? A quick search says “kiitos” is please (and thank you?), but not sure if it’s the same function as what you’re saying for the other Indo-European languages.
This has lost its use in french, as it was mostly used by servants toward lords, and politics turned it into something not that great first, and nowadays it feels too old (may be a bit as “thou” in english, it is not false, nor bad, just not used).
But should you translate word fore word, to please is “plaire” in french. And the common use is “s’il vous paît” (if it pleases you). For grammar, french use a conditionnal rather than the english imperative order “please!”.
Not for what I know. They only have combination of three words, just like the Scandinavian languages do.
And the question was specifically why they have a group of three words instead of just one word. In French they have “s’il tu plait”, in Swedish they have “var så god”, in Spanish they have “por favor” and in Dutch they have “als je het blijft”. All are longer phrases, not just a single word like in English.
It’s pronounced practically as one word. And so are its French and Swedish counterparts. But all three languages have it built out of three separate words. There’s a reason Dutch shortens it as “a.U.b.” :)
All that frankly, I don’t really understand the thought process behind the question. Why is it relevant that the phrase has several words instead of one?
But, the person asking the question has their reasons and explaining them all would make for a very long post to read.
In Scandinavian languages the same reason there’s no word for “please” in French, Dutch or Spanish.
Because having a short verb phrase does the trick just fine, there’s no need for a single word to develop.
And in Finnish because in Finland thanking is much more important than in Indo-European cultures and Finnish has built its equivalent of the word “please” directly into grammar.
Vänligen? Snälla?
What do you mean “directly into grammar” for Finnish? A quick search says “kiitos” is please (and thank you?), but not sure if it’s the same function as what you’re saying for the other Indo-European languages.
The equivalent of the word “please” is built by adding “-isi” and “-ko” to the end of the word. Plus the personal suffix, such as “-t”.
Mennä = To go
Mene! = Go!
Menisitkö! = Go, please!
Plaît-il ?
This has lost its use in french, as it was mostly used by servants toward lords, and politics turned it into something not that great first, and nowadays it feels too old (may be a bit as “thou” in english, it is not false, nor bad, just not used).
But should you translate word fore word, to please is “plaire” in french. And the common use is “s’il vous paît” (if it pleases you). For grammar, french use a conditionnal rather than the english imperative order “please!”.
French has please though, no?
Not for what I know. They only have combination of three words, just like the Scandinavian languages do.
And the question was specifically why they have a group of three words instead of just one word. In French they have “s’il tu plait”, in Swedish they have “var så god”, in Spanish they have “por favor” and in Dutch they have “als je het blijft”. All are longer phrases, not just a single word like in English.
It’s one word in Dutch: “alsjeblieft”. There’s also the more formal equivalent “alstublieft”.
It’s pronounced practically as one word. And so are its French and Swedish counterparts. But all three languages have it built out of three separate words. There’s a reason Dutch shortens it as “a.U.b.” :)
Oh I see. I assumed English is please because it comes from 'if it pleases you," which is the same thing as « s’il te plaît ».
All that frankly, I don’t really understand the thought process behind the question. Why is it relevant that the phrase has several words instead of one?
But, the person asking the question has their reasons and explaining them all would make for a very long post to read.