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I'll be interested indeed in the native French response to this. Although it seems an incredibly simple translation, I can't think of a direct translation of:
Hello (sometimes the English word is used, certainly everyone understands it)
See you then
Love (in French there's no "informal love" as far as I know. There's nothing between amitiés and je t'aime)
I could easily be wrong. Anyway, here's a suggestion for a looser translation and I'm sure something better will be along later in the day:
Cou-cou, bonjour Christophe, je venirai à ta fête d'anniv avec grand plaisir. A plus tard, amitiés, Brad et Shell.
I'm assuming that Christophe is a close enough friend to be addressed as tu rather than vous. Dear me, the complications of a simple message!
I definitely like salut for hello, should have thought of that.
I dunno about anniversaire vs. fête d'anniv. Isn't that the difference between attending the party vs. attending the birthday itself?
Is je venirai daring because it might mean je jouirai? That would certainly be a surprise RSVP!
By contraction (I suppose) we use simply “aller (participer) à un anniversaire”.
But "Participer (aller) à une fête d'anniversaire" is perfectly correct.
You can also use “Fêter un anniversaire". (ex : Hier, nous avons fêter son anniversaire dans un resto vraiment sympa)
I use “pretty daring” because I’m not really good at English and I often do literal translation between French and English…
In this particular case “venirai” doesn’t exist (Venir is irregular => “Je viendrai” is the proper form)
When French friends use word that doesn’t exist, or say something with an “improbable accent” (where I leave there are many “improbable pronunciations”), I use to say: “plutôt osée comme expression” or “un peu osée cette expression”…
By the way, one of my reasons to be on this forum is to improve my English skills, so if something like “pretty daring” (or any expression I use) can’t be understood by English people, don’t hesitate to let me know…
Oh yes, OK, venirai doesn't exist.
"Daring" isn't quite right in the context, then. In British English "dodgy" would be perfect. In American? Maybe "strange" or "eccentric."
Was your "where I leave" just a typo for "where I live"?
So something like:
"venirai"... a bit dogdy, nice but dodgy...
Yes it's "where I live", I make this mistake very often...
And to be totally honest, I have to confess I'm bad at French spelling, so I can not really expect to be better in English!
So, Brad, are you THOROUGHLY confused?
I'd like to offer a composite version but first we need to know:
Is Christophe a close enough friend for the familiar words and the tu-toi?
Did you really mean "We would love to come" not "I would..."?
OK, here's the 'we':
Salut Christophe, nous viendrons à ton anniversaire avec grand plaisir. On s'y retrouve alors. Amitiés, Brad et Shell.
...and the I:
Salut Christophe, je viendrai à ton anniversaire avec grand plaisir. On s'y retrouve alors. Amitiés, Brad et Shell.
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