Phrases |
'Useful' phrases |
Idioms |
Tongue twisters |
Language-related proverbs
These are phrases used to at the beginning or end of meals and mean something like "have a good meal" / "enjoy your meal". There is no exact English equivalent of this, though some people say bon appetit, particularly in restaurants.
Many people say grace, a short prayer recited before or after a meal to invoke a blessing upon the food or to give thanks for it.
| Language | Phrase |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Smaaklike ete! Lekker eet! |
| Albanian | T'boftë mire! |
| Amharic | Melkam Megeb |
| Arabic (Egyptian) | (bil hana wish shifa'!) بالهنا و الشفاء! response - (allah yihanneek/i) الله يهنّيك |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) | (bil-hanā' wa ash-shifā')
بالهناء والشفاء /
بالهنا والشفا may you have your meal with gladness and health |
| Armenian (Eastern) | Բարի' ախորժակ: (Bari akh.orzh.ak) |
| Aromanian | Oraxi bunã! S-vã facã ghini! |
| Azerbaijani | Nush olsun! |
| Basque | On egin! |
| Belarusian | Смачна есьці! (Smachna yesci) |
| Breton | Kalon digor! Debrit ervat! Debrit a galon! |
| Bulgarian | Добър апетит!
(Dobãr apetit)
|
| Catalan | Bon profit!
Que vagi de gust!
|
| Chamorro | Buen prubechu |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 食飯 (sihk faahn) - eat, 食慾! (sihk juhk) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 慢慢吃！ (mànmàn chī!) - eat slowly 請入席 [请入席] (qǐng rù xí) - please be seated - used only on formal occasions |
| Cornish | Omlowen dha bos! |
| Croatian | Dobar tek!
|
| Czech | Dobrou chuť!
|
| Danish | Velbekomme! |
| Dutch | Smakelijk eten! Eet Smakelijk! |
| English | Bon appetit! Tuck in! Get stuck in! Eat already! Enjoy! Enjoy your meal! Happy eating! Get your laughing gear round this! Down the hatch! This looks nice! Chow down! |
| Esperanto | Bonan apetiton! |
| Estonian | Jätku leiba! (used when joining the table) Head isu! (used when leaving the table) |
| Faroese | Vælgagnist |
| Finnish | Hyvää ruokahalua! |
| French | Bon appétit !
|
| Friulian | Bon pitìc |
| Genoese | Bon pro'! |
| Georgian | გაამოთ! (gaamoth) - frm
გაამოს! (gaamos) - inf გემრიელად მიირთვით! (gemrielad miirthvith) - frm გემრიელად მიირთვი! (gemrielad miirthvi) - inf |
| German | Guten Appetit!
Mahlzeit!
En Guete! (Swiss German) |
| Greek | Καλή όρεξη! (Kalí óreksi!) |
| Hawaiian | E ʻai ka-ua (you and I), E ʻai ka-kou (2+ people) |
| Hebrew | (b'tayavon)
בתיאבון
|
| Hindi | स्वादिष्ट खाना (Svādiṣṭ khānā) |
| Hungarian | Jó étvágyat! |
| Icelandic | Verði þér að góðu |
| Indonesian | Selamat makan! |
| Inuktitut | ᐊᑏ ᓂᕆᓕᖅᑕ (Atii niriliqta) |
| Italian | Buon appetito!
|
| Japanese | どうぞめしあがれ
(douzo meshiagare) = 'enjoy your meal' - said by the cook/chef いただきます
(itadakimasu) - said before a meal by those eating itご馳走さま
(gochisōsama) - said after a meal by those who have eaten it
|
| Jèrriais | Bouan appétit! |
| Kazakh | Ас болсын! (As bolsın!) |
| Korean | 잘 먹겠습니다
(jal meokkesseumnida) - before a meal 잘 먹었습니다 (jal meogeosseumnida) - after a meal |
| Klingon | yISop! (sg) peSop! (pl) |
| Latin | Bonum appetitionem! |
| Lativan | Labu apetīti! |
| Lithuanian | Gero apetito! Skanaus! |
| Lojban | a'o.e'o lo sanmi cu xamgu ko |
| Luxembourgish | Gudden Appetit! |
| Macedonian | Пријатно јадење
(Priyatno yadenye)
|
| Malay | Selamat menjamu selera!
(Please treat your appetite) Jemput makan! (Please eat!) Makan makan! (Eat eat!) |
| Maltese | L-ikla t-tajba |
| M&x#0101;ri | Kia mākona |
| Marathi | रूचकर जेवण (ruckar jevaṇ) |
| Mongolian | Сайхан хооллоорой (Saihan hoollooroi) |
| Norwegian | Vær så god! Vel bekomme! |
| Occitan | Bon apetís! |
| Persian | (befarma'id) بفرماييد (nooshe jan) نوش جان |
| Polish | Smacznego!
Bon appetit!
|
| Portuguese | Bom apetite!
|
| Romanian | Poftă bună!
|
| Russian | Приятного
аппетита!
(Prijatnogo appetita)
|
| Sabethir |
(Endiaré'hysil)
|
| Serbian | Пријатно! (Prijatno!)
|
| Slovak | Dobrú chuť! |
| Slovenian | Dober tek! |
| Spanish | ¡Buen provecho!
¡Buen apetito!
|
| Swahili | Ufurahie chakula chako (sg), Msifurahie chakula chenu (pl) |
| Swedish | Smaklig måltid!
|
| Tagalog | Tayo'y magsikain (frm) Kainan na! (inf) - Let's eat |
| Thai | ขอให้เจริญอาหาร! (koh hai cha-roen ar-harn) |
| Tigrinya | ብላዕ (blaˋ - lit: eat!) |
| Turkish | Afiyet olsun! |
| Ukrainian | Смачного! (Smačnoho) |
| Üqoi | Kaj'ëëj'ëëvoghjaeti akavigo! U'uz'öghjaeti abzoohä! |
| Urdu | (maze karein) مزےکریں! |
| Uzbek | Yoqimli ishtaha!
|
| Vietnamese | Ăn ngon nhé / Chúc ngon miệng |
| Welsh | Mwynhewch eich bwyd!
|
| Xhosa | Ukonwabele ukutya kwakho |
| Yiddish | (Es gezunterheyt!) עס געזונטערהײט |
| Yorùbá | Ounjẹ ajẹye o / Yoo gba ibi re |
| Zulu | Thokoleza ukudla! |
People who have contributed to this section
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, please
contact me. If you can provide audio recordings
of any of these phrases, please send them to
You can send me audio files in any format. If you don't know how to make recordings on a computer, you can send me recordings on audio cassette. Let me know if you want to do this and I'll send you my snailmail address. Or you can call me on Skype (omniglot) and I'll do the recording.
http://www.nypl.org/branch/central/dlc/df/expressions/bonappetit.html
http://recipes.chef2chef.net/cool/data/appetit.htm
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