Que tengas un excelente día

Question

Feliz and I have had an ongoing dialogue that I thought might be of benefit to resolve as a separate question, as I doubt anyone is going to read through and answer on the post itself.

Matjam originally posted this as part of a post:

¿Qué categoría estás? Tenga un excelente día!

Feliz commented:

Tenga un dia excelente (Word order) - FELIZ77 7 hrs ago flag

also; Aquí son algunos hechos divertidos acerca de este sitio maravilloso, (word order) - FELIZ77 7 hrs ago flag

I responded:

Personally, I am okay with excelente día, but think you need "En qué categoria estás"- the en is needed. Just my opinion. -bosquederobl 6 hrs ago delete flag

Note here I only said I thought it acceptable to put excelente in front, not that it had to be in front.

Feliz responded:

Matjam, please remember that adjectives "usually" follow the nouns in Spanish (say about 98% of the time) You can check this out in teh grammar section - FELIZ77 6 hrs ago flag

Bosque, it may be that its a regional variation but I have never heard Spaniards say it this way around - FELIZ77 6 hrs agoflag

To which I responded:

Do you say que tenga un buen día, or que tenga un día bueno? - bosquederobl 6 hrs ago delete | flag

And he responded:

I say (Espero que) tenga un buen día but buenos is normally shortened 9apaocopated) to buen before a masculine singular noun, as I 'm sure you know, Bosque - FELIZ77 3 hrs ago flag

However, with the word excelente it sounds better after the noun. I could be wrong I am open to correction especially from native speakers! - FELIZ77 3 hrs ago flag

I mean (apocopated) - FELIZ77 3 hrs ago flag

So at this point I would like opinion on whether either is acceptable, or if there is a preference, and if so what that preference is.

To provide results on Google search- always an iffy way of making a decision, but it can be somewhat suggestive- excelente is before día an order of magnitude more often than after.

" tengas un excelente día" 237,000 hits

" tengas un día excelente" 11,300

" tenga un excelente día" 126,000

" tenga un día excelente" 10,200

" ten un excelente día" 24,800

" ten un día excelente" 3,120

Although I did not do a thorough image search, in the first pages searched with no quotes this: tengas un día excelente

Everything I saw had excelente first, for example:

Answer 1

I personally prefer saying: Que tengas un excelente día

Gracias. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

This is the most common way. - Daniela2041, Apr 20, 2016

Answer 2

First of all, I have NO idea of what you mean by

"Qué categoría estás" with or without the "En" in front.

But "Que tengas un día excelente" or "Que tengas un excelente día" are both grammatically correct, but the latter is used more.

You can also use "pasar" as in "Que pases un día fantástico."

Thanks, that was my gut feeling- either were okay, but before more common. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

How would you say "what category are you in?"? - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

I didn't even know I had a category. To what are you referring? This is what I don't understand. In the category of men and women, I would say "woman" but I still don't know what you mean. - Daniela2041, Apr 20, 2016

In his post he dived people into categories such as no reputation, 1-999, 1000-9999, etc., also with learning points and badges. I am not categorizing anyone, but matjam was. :; - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

Sorry, divided, not dived. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

O K I get it now. It wasn't very clear to me. As far as categories go I'm up over 75,000 reputation now. Over 1000 badges. No learning points. - Daniela2041, Apr 20, 2016

As far as saying it, you were correct. "¿En qué categoría estás?" - Daniela2041, Apr 20, 2016

Thanks. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

Answer 3

As the person who first wrote this out, I would say "Tenga un excelente día!" If I said, "Tenga un día excelente!", it would literally means "Have a day of good!"

Huh??

Excelente is an adjective modifying the noun. As opposed to English, in Spanish we tend to write adjectives after nouns. But Spanish is also a more flexible language regarding word order - Gabo77, Apr 20, 2016

We also tend to go with what sounds better (excelente día sounds nicer to me, but both are correct and both mean the same). - Gabo77, Apr 20, 2016

Adjectives in front of the noun tend to emphasize, those after categorize- although there are other things also done with the different placements (htink neuvo- new to you vs. newly made, etc.) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

But some of it is simply what is the customary usage. And here it is just customary to put it in front. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

Answer 4

Why not just stick with ¡Que tengas un buen día! and be done with it. Having said that I vote for a direct replacement of buen with excelente.

I looked up "excelente" in the translator and then clicked on examples, here is one of the examples:

Nuestros dos parlamentos mantienen una excelente relación.

There are many more that place "excelente" before the noun.

Thanks, I always use buen día as well. but it never hurts to expand one's options. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

Answer 5

Here in Spain the expression is rarely used. The Supermarket chain Día has a slogan as you leave the premises however: '¡ Que tengas un buen Día!'

In England we hardly ever say ' Have a good day!' either, it is regarded as trying to seem very cool but well, failing to be so... I would go with Dani's answer.

I've never heard excelente used in this context over here. - annierats, Apr 20, 2016

Thanks- it is not one I use in English or Spanish, I was just trying to pin down the grammar. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 20, 2016

Here in Mexico "Qué tengas un buen día" is heard many times every day. It is almost rude not to say it to the other person at the end of a transaction. Just like saying "buen provecho" upon entering or leaving a restaurant. - gringojrf, Apr 20, 2016

Omg hay supermercados Dia en España!!!??? jajajaj - Pablo064, Apr 21, 2016

mm recién ahora me entero que es de España y se fundó en el 79 :I - Pablo064, Apr 21, 2016

Yes, Día is a very common supermarket, a good one! - annierats, Apr 24, 2016