Buona vacanza!
Words you should know | Buona (good, f) + vacanza (holiday) |
When to use this | With anyone, groups too |
Buona vacanza!
Have a nice vacation!
Vacanza is a feminine noun. All adjectives in Italian are the same gender and number as the noun they are describing.
Buona vacanza, Paolo! Divertiti in spiaggia!
Have a nice vacation, Paolo! Have fun at the beach!
Passa una buona vacanza
When to use this | With 1 person you’re familiar with |
When NOT to use this | With strangers and groups of people |
Passa una buona vacanza!
Have a nice vacation!
(Spend a nice vacation, singular)
This expression uses the verb passare, which can mean to pass or to spend.
To wish for a group of people to have nice vacation in Italian, you can use passate una buona vacanza.
Passate una buona vacanza!
Have a nice vacation!
(Spend a nice vacation, plural)
Finally, you can say passi una buona vacanza in polite situations, such as when saying goodbye to a cashier at the supermarket.
Passi una buona vacanza!
Have a nice vacation!
(Spend a nice vacation, polite)
To spend, as in to spend some time, can also be translated with the verb trascorrere, but you will rarely hear something like trascorri una buona vacanza translated as have a nice vacation in Italian. It’s clunky and a bit formal, so its use is usually limited to very polite situations:
Trascorra una buona vacanza!
Have a nice vacation!
(Spend a nice vacation, very polite)
Vacanza or vacanze?
Vacanza is singular and vacanze is plural. However, the difference between vacanza and vacanze, aside from grammar, is very subtle.
Vacanza has two meanings: it can be used as a translation of “vacation”, as we’ve already seen in the previous paragraphs, and as a synonym for travel, as in…
Sono andato in vacanza in Grecia.
I went on vacation to Greece.
However, vacanze cannot translate “travel” and is only used to translate “vacation”. There is no difference with vacanza in this case.
Buone vacanze!
Have a nice vacation!
Passa delle buone vacanze!
Have a nice vacation! (singular, informal)
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