Ways of saying, "Please..."
ca, kivuye
Ubutumwa 11
ururimi: English
miamaslegi (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 07:39:36
He gives this as an example:
Please come. - Bonvole venu./Bonvolu veni./Venu, mi petas.
I was wondering if there are any differences among these three in level of politeness or shades of meaning. Would one be more likely to use one with, say, a child or with a superior? Or are they completely interchangeable?
Also, if one says "please" by itself (eg. "Will you let the cat in?" "Do I have to?" "Please?"), would that be said, "Bonvolu"?
Hantek (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 09:27:52
miamaslegi:I think that would be too hard for an international language, they should all mean the same thing.
I was wondering if there are any differences among these three in level of politeness or shades of meaning. Would one be more likely to use one with, say, a child or with a superior? Or are they completely interchangeable?
Being polite should be simple I think.
drinkulo (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 10:10:15
miamaslegi:He gives this as an example:All of these are corrects.
Please come. - Bonvole venu./Bonvolu veni./Venu, mi petas.
Also I say: Mi petas ke venu
darkweasel (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 10:24:18
drinkulo:no, that is not possible - "...ke VI venu" is.
Also I say: Mi petas ke venu
i don't see a difference between these forms, the most common form is "bonvolu veni".
sudanglo (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 12:12:44
In other contexts I might use the adverbial form.
If you want to be ultra polite, you can always use more complex formulas.
Ĉu vi bonvolus fermi la fenestron, mi petas.
Ĉu tio ĝenus se mi malfermus la fenestron.
erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 17:34:41
Any polite form is seen as being polite, it would never be seen as impolite to choose the "wrong" polite form.
However, personally I don't see "mi petas" very frequently. I think it was taught in the course I did when I learned, but I don't see it used very frequently.
I use the word but I don't use it as a "please", I use it to translate the English word "request".
"Mi petis ke li venu kun mi" = I requested that he come with me.
"Mi petis la bileton, kiun mi antaŭmendis" - I requested the ticket that I pre-ordered.
It also becomes a matter of style. Bonvolu usually comes at the beginning of a sentence. "mi petas" normally comes at the end. So if you start asking for something, and you realize that you forgot to add a "please", it's easy to add a polite "mi petas" at the end.
Bonvolu veni ĉi tien = Please come here.
Venu ĉi tien, mi petas = Come here, please.
(it wouldn't be wrong to put "bonvolu" at the end but you'd have to know you were going to do it, to keep veni in its correct i-form here; you could tack on a "bonvole" at the end, if you put "venu" first, but it would still sound a tad unnatural - to me it would be obvious that you simply forgot to put the "please" at the beginning, so you're adding it on at the last minute)
Miland (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 18:01:23
erinja (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 18:20:21
Miland:I usually use mi petas at a table: La salo/sukero/ktp, mi petas.Yes, asking for something concrete is an excellent situation for using "mi petas". If I ever use it at all, it's almost always in this type of situation.
"La sukero, mi petas" is much more concise than "Bonvolu pasi al mi la sukeron", or the slightly less polite (but still polite) "Ĉu vi povus pasi al mi la sukeron?"
acdibble (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 20:18:12
miamaslegi (Kwerekana umwidondoro) 16 Nzero 2012 23:49:06
I was thinking there was really no difference, but I wanted to make sure.