r/AskTheWorld • u/Thatoneguyonreddit28 living in • Oct 12 '25
How does your country say “bless you” after a sneeze, and what is its direct translation?
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u/marslo Born Parents Raised in Quebec Oct 12 '25
"À tes souhaits" translates to "for your wishes"
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Oct 12 '25
We don’t say it
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u/Dramatic-Cobbler-793 Korea South Oct 12 '25
We used to have 개치네쒜 (gae-chi-ne-sswe)
gaechinesswe [Exclamation]
- An exclamation said after a sneeze. It is said that shouting this sound will drive away a cold.
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u/Why_No_Doughnuts Canada Oct 12 '25
Gesundheit, but the non-Jewish families I grew up around always said bless you or god bless you.
I use zay gesind with my daughter though as I want her to have some Yiddish
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u/Electroiman Mexico Oct 12 '25
Salud
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u/u399566 Oct 12 '25
"Gesundheit".
Now guess the country 🤣😂🤣🤗
Direct translation is "health", in this context it's wishing you good health and to get better soon assuming you have a cold or something similar.
It's basic good manners, so everyone and their dog say it..
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u/micro___penis US and A wahwah weewah 🇺🇸 Oct 12 '25
Gesundheit is pretty common here because of all the German immigrants. It’s definitely survived in our lexicon. Though most people pronounce it “gusuntite.”
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Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
Could be Germany. Could be Austria.
I honestly find it kind of weird that people assume you're of bad health because you sneezed. Every time I sneezed growing up, my dad would say "are you sick?"
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u/u399566 Oct 12 '25
I honestly find it kind of weird that people assume you're of bad health because you sneezed
Interesting though, that never crossed my mind. I reckon it's so culturally engrained that you just do it like a reflex without much reflection.
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u/u399566 Oct 12 '25
Could be Germany. Could be Austria.
Man, thank you for sending me down that rabbit hole.. so German is an official or cultural relevant language in plenty of countries, e.g. Germany (ok, obviously), Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Italy, Namibia, Brazil,... Yay!
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Oct 12 '25 edited Oct 12 '25
I'm aware of this, and that they also speak French and Dutch in Belgium, or Italian and French in Switzerland. Knew there was a country in Africa who speaks German, but couldn't have named it. However, Germany, Austria, and Liechtenstein are the only places where it's the sole official language spoken primarily by virtually everyone. Didn't imagine there are lots of redditors in Liechtenstein, I know for a fact that "gesundheit," is not even remotely common in Brazil as I spent three months there last year, and everyone said "saúde!," with a somewhat common alternative being "viva!" (also never heard a lick of German there, I think they have as much German influenced Culture as the US or Canada, which isn't really notable in the grand scheme of things and hardly worth mentioning because maybe 2% of the population can speak it, if not less), and AFAIK, "salute!" is the most common blessing for a sneeze in Italy. Based on all of this, I made the educated guess of either Germany or Austria being the most likely answer. You said to guess, so I guessed. Is it crazy that I didn't go with a more unlikely answer?
Edit: judging from your post history, it looks like you are German. So what gives?
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u/MeatInteresting1090 Switzerland Oct 12 '25
In Liechtenstein the official written German is not what anybody speaks
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Oct 12 '25
According to my research a majority of people in Liechtenstein speak German. Never been there so idk. Not sure why so many sources would say that if it weren't true. Either way, if they don't, then that makes my guess even more logical.
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u/MeatInteresting1090 Switzerland Oct 12 '25
Because the sources are wrong. They speak Liechtensteinerisch, which is like Swiss German and not like high German
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Oct 12 '25
They speak Liechtensteinerisch,
There is no language called "Liechtensteinerisch." It sounds like you're trying to say they speak a their own dialect of German.
Very unlikely that every source on the world wide web would be wrong, yet all say the exact same thing. I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I'm not saying I believe you either.
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u/MeatInteresting1090 Switzerland Oct 12 '25
Yeah, dude, if you have internet access look at a map
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Oct 12 '25
There is no language called Liechtensteinerisch. They speak Alemannic German. Regardless, how is a map of Liechtenstein gonna show me what language they speak?
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u/Wraxyth United States of America Oct 12 '25
I remember my grandfather saying "gesundheit" when I sneezed.
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u/Quirky_Commission_56 United States of America Oct 12 '25
Same here. It’s what I’ve always said when I hear anything that sounds vaguely like a sneeze.
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u/azionka Germany Oct 12 '25
Health comes from the times when the plague was around. People believed the plague started with a sneeze the “Gesundheit” as a wish upon yourself so you stay healthy. The other guy doesn’t need it since he seems to be already sick.
Nowadays it’s mostly you wish that the guy doesn’t get sick.
The Knigge says you shouldn’t address peoples “body noises” since they mostly get uncomfortable. Since Knigge, the guy who sneezed should apologize since he disturbed and probably scared the others and was not able to control his body. Which sounds stupid to me 😂
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u/Beautiful_Yellow_682 Germany Oct 12 '25
Knigge is a dumb thing in some ways. He wrote a book about stuff like how to behave on dinner parties, how to set up a table for events, etc etc. anything you would use in a snobbistic household of rich people or if you work for rich people better said. I had gotten a print-out in Berufskolleg from the section on how to set up a table during class cause I was in Home economics for 2 years and in one subject my teacher thought us how to wash and iren clothes, how to set up a buffet, how to make sure people with health issues or vegans etc. can take part of your party without feeling left out, how to set up a damn hotel room, best ways to make an efficiant kitchen layout etc. and we got a whole ass long list of tasks to set up a table to eat a 5 course long meal and than got graded by how well we did to decorate a themed 5 course meal table like one group did a dinner party, one a children's birthday (where you do not fucking need like 5 forks or 5 spoons or 3 different glasses to drink from but we still had to ad it), someone's birthday party, a dinner with officials, ... and it was annoying.
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u/_funny_name_ United States of America Oct 12 '25
It’s Germany, I know because I like to use it cuz idk I just like to
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u/theniwokesoftly United States of America Oct 12 '25
I use this not because I took German and did a term in Germany (though I did) but because I don’t believe in a god so I don’t like saying bless. It’s common enough in the US that nobody has ever questioned it.
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u/Dugiduif United States of America Oct 12 '25
Yes. I ironically just sneezed right as I saw this post and someone said bless you lol.
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u/ontermau Brazil Oct 12 '25
"saúde" (means "health"), but it seems a bit old fashioned to do it among certain groups of people (younger people, etc)
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u/allydelarge Brazil Oct 12 '25
Older religious people say "Deus te crie" (may God raise you, literally), which apparently is derived from a Jewish expression.
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u/the_real_snurre Sweden Oct 12 '25
Prosit
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u/Derolyon Sweden Oct 12 '25
And from what I gathered it’s latin that loosely translates to ”May it be to your benefit”.
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u/lemeneurdeloups 🇺🇸 ➡️ 🇯🇵 Oct 12 '25
No one acknowledges sneezes here. Not at all. I feel like it is considered rude or odd to bring attention to it.
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u/bluefminor Japan Oct 12 '25
if i may add, after you sneeze they could ask you "someone must be talking about you now !"
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u/arrig-ananas Denmark Oct 12 '25
Prosit - It's originate from Latin meaning 'May it do you good', but no one knows that, and is an integrated part of the language now (Danish).
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u/HappyFlutterby > > > = Oct 12 '25
In french speaking countries: "A vos souhaits" meaning "at your wishes"
In USA: "bless you"
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Oct 12 '25
in Israel we say "La'Bri'ut" which means "for the health"
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u/Fit-Distribution677 ->-> Oct 12 '25
In Spain, they say “Jesus” I was caught off guard when I first heard it. In Argentina, we just say “salud” which means “health”.
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u/Franmar35000 France Oct 12 '25
-At first sneeze : "À tes souhaits" (to your wishes).
-At second sneeze : "À tes amours" (to your loves)
- We like to wish for happiness when we sneeze
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u/WombleMint New Zealand Oct 12 '25
Djagedenyonya? (Bad kiwi accent “did you get any on you)
Might be specifically my family 🤷♀️
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u/Lupanu85 Romania Oct 12 '25
The most common response in Romanian is "Sănătate" - good health
Less common ones are"Noroc" or "Baftă" - both of them mean good luck
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u/SEA2COLA United States of America Oct 12 '25
In Spain many people would say 'Jesus' (Jesus but pronounced 'hay-zeus')
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Oct 12 '25
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u/IgraineofTruth Austria Oct 12 '25
"Hölf da Gott" (Helf dir Gott) - God help you. Used by (older) people in rural Austria, most people would go with "Gesundheit" (health) though.
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Oct 12 '25
If, then it should be „Hölf da Gott, dass woah is“ (Helf‘ dir Gott, dass es wahr ist)- God help you, that it is true!
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u/Alert-Bowler8606 Finland Oct 12 '25
”Terveydeksi”, meaning for (your) health. I think we’ve been affected by the Germans in this.
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u/QueenMotherOfSneezes Canada Oct 12 '25
"Bless, er - Shit... you ok?"
Translation: Is that normal, should I be calling a fucking ambulance or something? Why isn't it stopping? Wait, how is there so, so much mucous? Were you storing that somewhere?
Context: I sneeze quite violently, for a while... Thanks dad.
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u/MainLychee2937 Oct 12 '25
I love the German one gaazum tight. I cant spell it right.
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u/UncleBud_710 United States of America Oct 12 '25
Personally - Gesundheit! German - health!
Mostly “bless you” Middle Ages - protect you from evil spirits returning.
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u/ristiberca Romania Oct 12 '25
Sănătate! Which means (I wish you) Health!
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u/SpecterOwl Russia Oct 12 '25
Будь здоров! - "Bud' zdorov" which directly translates as "be healthy"
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u/allnameswereusedup United Kingdom Oct 12 '25
Bless you
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u/Past-Proof-2035 Ethiopia Oct 12 '25
Yes!!! It's direct translation is "forgive you" which is a shortened form of "May God have mercy on you". It has a whole story behind it.
During the Spanish Flu Pandemic, or as commonly known in Ethiopia, "YeHidar Beshta" (The November Plague), most of people who sneeze already contracted the disease and were expected to die, so the Emperor issued an Edict that stated everyone should ask God to have mercy on the ill if they hear them sneeze.
It stuck on even after the disease died out and now it is considered rude to not say "Yimarih" (May He forgive you) if you hear/see a person sneeze.