Good evening everyone!
In Chinese we don't usually say good evening, it is either good morning or good night. But western people do differentiate them. When you are off work, you say good evening to your colleagues, and when you are going to bed, you say good night to your families, you never mix them up.
Face it, learning a language is also about learning the culture behind the language. The higher context it is, the harder it is.
I used to just remember that, but now I know. Why do we have buenos dias and buenas tardes? It turns out that Spanish have genders. Dias (days) is a masculine noun, so it must be described using a masculine adjective, in this case, buenos. On the other hand, tardes (afternoon or evening) is a feminine noun, so it must be described using a feminine adjective, and in this case, buenas.
Edit: By the way, buenas tardes can also be used to mean good afternoon, so don't be surprised when someone say that to you in the middle of the day :)
Disclaimer
Buenas tardes means good evening (click on the link for sound)
In Chinese we don't usually say good evening, it is either good morning or good night. But western people do differentiate them. When you are off work, you say good evening to your colleagues, and when you are going to bed, you say good night to your families, you never mix them up.
Face it, learning a language is also about learning the culture behind the language. The higher context it is, the harder it is.
I used to just remember that, but now I know. Why do we have buenos dias and buenas tardes? It turns out that Spanish have genders. Dias (days) is a masculine noun, so it must be described using a masculine adjective, in this case, buenos. On the other hand, tardes (afternoon or evening) is a feminine noun, so it must be described using a feminine adjective, and in this case, buenas.
Edit: By the way, buenas tardes can also be used to mean good afternoon, so don't be surprised when someone say that to you in the middle of the day :)
Disclaimer
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