How do you say an event will be casual?

Question

Google translate tells me casual/unceremonious = "随便" But I always thought "随便" meant "whatever"

I want to say "You can come over whenever, it will be casual"

Answer 1

IMO, the best way to deliver the OP's meaning should be:

你随时都可以过来，这不是一个太正式的活动。

There are a lot of other ways to say this, for example:

1. 欢迎随时过来。(no need to say "event is casual")
2. 欢迎随时过来，不要太拘谨。
3. 随便什么时间来都行，看你方便。
4. 你想什么时候来就什么时候来。(when you are very closed friends)

BTW, I think nowadays younger Chinese people would like to add a 并 like this:

你随时都可以过来，这并不是一个太正式的活动。

It looks more formal but actually younger people like to use 并 everywhere recently

Answer 2

In Chinese, "随便" has a lot of meanings.

• It can be used to represent words ending with '-ever', like whatever, whenever, like what you thought.
• It can be used also as an adjective, and in this way it means 'don't care much about details'
• It can be used as an adverb, which means 'freely' or 'do as one's will'

But I think maybe "随便" is not very suitable in your example. "不正式", which means not formal, or "随意", which is used to describe someone or something without many constraints, may be more appropriate. But actually, they don't differ a lot :)

Answer 3

Are we all missing the point that, "casual" or "formal" refers to how one should come dressed in? How on earth can a party be 随便什么时间来都行! I suggest: 服装：非正式。