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Is there a japanese equivalent to the english expression 'ENJOY'?

As in:

Friends invite you to go out to eat in a restaurant, but you can't come. So you say 'enjoy!'

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  • It will sound weird but you can say エンジョイ is japanese too !
    – oldergod
    Oct 2, 2015 at 4:53
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    Friends invite you to go out to eat in a restaurant, but you can't come, then you say 楽しんできて
    – chocolate
    Oct 2, 2015 at 5:05
  • @choco would you like to post your comment-answer as an answer?
    – Flaw
    Dec 6, 2015 at 8:55
  • @Flaw まあ!どうしましょう・・
    – chocolate
    Dec 6, 2015 at 13:02

2 Answers 2

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There is the verb 楽【たの】しむ, which could be translated as "to enjoy".

I often hear something similar to 「楽しんでください!」 in similar situations, which is simply an imperative form of the aforementioned verb. Among friends, you might say 「楽しんでね!」.

However, as macraf added, if you were invited to something and could not make it, by friends or not, a more polite expression would perhaps be more appropriate. For example, you could say something like 「ディナー/お時間を楽しんでお過ごしください。」.

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  • This answers the question, but friends or not, if I were invited and could not come, I wouldn't aim for colloquial language (as the tag suggested). ディナー/お時間を楽しんでお過ごしください。 (unless I and my friends were younger than 20 y.o.)
    – macraf
    Oct 2, 2015 at 4:00
  • @macraf That is a good point. My friends and I are, in fact, under the age of 20, so perhaps that skews my experience. I will append this insight to my answer. Thanks!
    – seafood258
    Oct 2, 2015 at 4:03
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    As Shokoさん has suggested in the comment, きて is very important to be added to 楽しんで in this case. When you say 「楽しんできてください」, きて expresses the crucial nuance that you won't be there with them. 「ぜひ楽しんできてください」is one of the most common phrases, I think. 「楽しんで(ください)ね」 implies "enjoy, here, right now." 「お楽しみください」or「楽しんでお過ごしください」 sounds like a master of ceremonies or written Japanese for a formal letter. Oct 2, 2015 at 10:05
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    @seafood258 No, I didn't suggest any replacement. Each of the expressions has a unique nuance and is useful in suitable situations. If 「楽しんでください」 follows an object (such as ゴルフ), it implies where and when the object implies, so it can be used in the situation where they will go and the speaker can't go. I didn't mean this answer is wrong. Oct 3, 2015 at 14:16
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    「楽しんでください」 simply means "enjoy (something)." 「楽しんできてください」 gives the feeling of that there is a relationship between the speaker and the listener, and implies "I can't go but hope you'll enjoy it there, and we'll meet again sometime after that." So, experience-based "Enjoy!" is 「楽しんでください」 and relationship-based "Enjoy!" is 「楽しんできてください」 in Japanese. I thought きて is important because the relationship-based expression is common in conversations with friends. But the experience-based expression is also possible to be used. So I just posted the comment to add some information to this answer. Oct 3, 2015 at 14:19
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Friends invite you to go out to eat in a restaurant, but you can't come, then you'd say 楽しんできてね! (Lit. Enjoy and come back.)

I think I would probably just say 行ってらっしゃい though...

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    And... your mom/grandma might say to you: 「楽しんでおいで。」
    – chocolate
    Dec 6, 2015 at 13:21

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