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.
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.
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.