Sheena Dizon
Last updated:
15 Ways to Say Congratulations in Chinese: Common Phrases and What They Mean (With Examples)
Life is too short not to celebrate.
An engagement, landing a new job, acing your driver’s test, becoming a homeowner—it would be rude not to say congratulations when someone shares their good news with you!
In China, praising others is just a tiny portion of a larger cultural concept known as 关系 (guān xì), literally meaning “relationship.”
So in this post, you’ll learn 15 ways to say congratulations in Chinese and how to use them in various situations.
Contents
- 1. 祝贺(你) – zhù hè (nǐ)
- 2. 恭喜(你) – gōng xǐ (nǐ)
- 3. 恭贺(你) – gōng hè (nǐ)
- 4. 恭祝(你) – gōng zhù (nǐ)
- 5. (我向你)祝贺 – (wǒ xiàng nǐ) zhù hè
- 6. (我向你)道喜 – (wǒ xiàng nǐ) dào xǐ
- 7. (我向你)贺喜 – wǒ xiàng nǐ hè xǐ
- 8. 开张大吉！ – kāi zhāng dà jí!
- 9. 你真棒！ – nǐ zhēn bàng!
- 10. 太好了！ – tài hǎo le!
- 11. 非常好！ – fēi cháng hǎo!
- 12. 我相信你 – wǒ xiāng xìn nǐ
- 13. 我（真）为你骄傲 – wǒ (zhēn) wèi nǐ jiāo ào
- 14. 我（早）就知道你能行的 – wǒ (zǎo) jiù zhī dào nǐ néng xíng de
- 15. 我真替你高兴 – wǒ zhēn tì nǐ gāo xìng
- Non-verbal Ways to Say Congratulations
- The Cultural Significance of Commending Success in China
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
1. 祝贺(你) – zhù hè (nǐ)
English: Congratulations (to you); I congratulate you
You can say 祝贺 on its own or add 你 meaning “you” at the end to say “congratulations (to you).”
Example:
祝贺你获得这个奖项！
zhù hè nǐ huò dé zhè ge jiǎng xiàng!
Congratulations on winning this award!
2. 恭喜(你) – gōng xǐ (nǐ)
English: Congratulations (to you); I congratulate you; Greetings (to you)
Example:
恭喜你考取驾照！
gōng xǐ nǐ kǎo qǔ jià zhào!
Congratulations on passing your driving test!
3. 恭贺(你) – gōng hè (nǐ)
English: Congratulations (to you); I wish you well
Example:
恭贺你晋升为团队领导！
gōng hè nǐ jìn shēng wéi tuán duì lǐng dǎo!
Congratulations on your promotion to team leader!
4. 恭祝(你) – gōng zhù (nǐ)
English: Congratulations (to you); I wish you good luck and success
For congratulatory verbs like 恭贺 and 恭祝, you can tack on 你 at the end to say, “Congratulations (to you),” just as we did with the first two words. 恭祝 is a quite formal expression, so you will less likely use it when talking to your friends.
Example:
恭祝您新年快乐！
gōng zhù nín xīn nián kuài lè!
Wishing you a happy new year!
5. (我向你)祝贺 – (wǒ xiàng nǐ) zhù hè
English: Congratulations (to you); I congratulate you
Example:
你被牛津录取了，我要向你祝贺！
nǐ bèi niú jīn lù qǔ le, wǒ yāo xiàng nǐ zhù hè!
You’ve been accepted at Oxford. I want to congratulate you!
6. (我向你)道喜 – (wǒ xiàng nǐ) dào xǐ
English: Congratulations (to you); I congratulate you
Example:
我向你道喜，希望你的婚姻幸福美满！
wǒ xiàng nǐ dào xǐ, xī wàng nǐ de hūn yīn xìng fú měi mǎn!
I offer my congratulations and wish you a happy and blissful marriage!
7. (我向你)贺喜 – wǒ xiàng nǐ hè xǐ
English: Congratulations (to you); I congratulate you
For congratulatory verbs like 致贺, 道喜, 道贺 and 贺喜, you can add 我向你 in front to turn them into full sentences.
This would literally translate to “I towards you congratulate,” but it really just means “congratulations.”
Example:
(我向你)贺喜，祝你事业顺利！
(Wǒ xiàng nǐ) hè xǐ, zhù nǐ shìyè shùnlì!
Congratulations and best wishes for success in your career!
8. 开张大吉！ – kāi zhāng dà jí!
English: Auspicious beginning of a new enterprise (literally); Congrats on the new business!
Example:
祝你开张大吉，生意兴隆！
zhù nǐ kāi zhāng dà jí, shēng yì xīng lóng!
Best wishes for the grand opening; may your business prosper!
9. 你真棒！ – nǐ zhēn bàng!
English: You are (so) awesome!
Example:
你真棒，任务完成得出色又得体！
nǐ zhēn bàng, rèn wù wán chéng de chū sè yòu dé tǐ!
You’re amazing; (you) completed the task with excellence and grace!
10. 太好了！ – tài hǎo le!
English: That is great; Great news!
Example:
太好了，我们的计划进行得很顺利！
tài hǎo le, wǒ men de jì huà jìn xíng de hěn shùn lì!
Fantastic, our plan is proceeding smoothly!
11. 非常好！ – fēi cháng hǎo!
English: Well done!
Example:
非常好，你的表现超出了预期！
fēi cháng hǎo, nǐ de biǎo xiàn chāo chū le yù qī!
Very good, your performance exceeded expectations!
12. 我相信你 – wǒ xiāng xìn nǐ
English: I have always believed in you
Example:
我相信你一定能够克服一切困难！
wǒ xiāng xìn nǐ yí dìng néng gòu kè fú yí qiè kùn nán!
I believed that you can overcome any obstacle!
13. 我（真）为你骄傲 – wǒ (zhēn) wèi nǐ jiāo ào
English: I am proud of you
Example:
你成功毕业了，我为你骄傲！
nǐ chéng gōng bì yè le, wǒ zhēn wèi nǐ jiāo ào!
You managed to graduate and I’m proud of you!
14. 我（早）就知道你能行的 – wǒ (zǎo) jiù zhī dào nǐ néng xíng de
English: I knew (early on) that you could do it.
Example:
我（早）就知道你能行，你的表现十分优秀！
wǒ (zǎo) jiù zhī dào nǐ néng xíng, nǐ de biǎo xiàn shí fēn yōu xiù!
I knew (early on) that you could do it, and you were excellent (lit. your performance was excellent)!
15. 我真替你高兴 – wǒ zhēn tì nǐ gāo xìng
English: I’m happy for you
Example:
我真替你高兴，你终于找到梦想中的工作了！
wǒ zhēn tì nǐ gāo xìng, nǐ zhōng yú zhǎo dào mèng xiǎng zhòng dì gōng zuò le!
I am happy for you; you finally got your dream job!
Non-verbal Ways to Say Congratulations
Give Gifts
For some occasions—especially celebrations with a gathering—it’s customary to give a gift. Certain events may call for certain gifts, but the money-stuffed red envelope or 红包 (hóng bāo) is always a safe bet.
How much you put in depends on the age of the recipient and the milestone. For example, an engaged couple would receive a heftier amount than a kid graduating from elementary school.
Present Fruits and Nuts
According to modern Chinese wedding customs, you can also present fruits and nuts as a gift for the couple, such as dates, longan, chestnuts and peanuts.
Give Lucky Animal Paintings and Figurines
To celebrate a new business or office space, some people give paintings or figurines of lucky animals as a wish for prosperity and wealth. Decorative pieces like those can also be housewarming gifts to bring health and safety into the home.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for a big party to give gifts to your loved ones. You’re more than welcome to do so when they accomplish something major or minor.
The Cultural Significance of Commending Success in China
Maintaining Good Relationships
关系 (guān xì) is all about your personal, familial, social, business and even political connections.
As Forbes puts it, “[Guanxi] implies trust and mutual obligations between parties… Having good, bad or no guanxi impacts one’s influence and ability to get things done.”
Networking is obviously how one would expand and diversify their relationships, and a huge part of making and maintaining good relationships, regardless at what level, is by giving “face” or 面子 (miàn zi).
What It Means to Gain and Lose Face
Gaining and losing face is something that exists across many cultures, but the definition and gravity of the concept vary from country to country.
In China, it’s about respect, honor and social standing.
Some ways of giving and gaining face include gift-giving, greetings on holidays, wishing others well, providing encouragement and saying sorry and recognizing people’s achievements.
On the other hand, losing face happens when you humiliate someone or make them lose their dignity somehow. You’re basically tarnishing their reputation.
As you progress in your language studies, you’ll learn that this is just a snippet of all the ways to say congratulations in Chinese.
And the more you immerse yourself in Chinese, the more phrases like these you’ll learn.
With an immersion language program like FluentU, for example, you can see how native speakers congratulate each other by watching Chinese-language videos.
However, these expressions are sufficient enough to help you maintain face!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you want to continue learning Chinese with interactive and authentic Chinese content, then you'll love FluentU.
FluentU naturally eases you into learning Chinese language. Native Chinese content comes within reach, and you'll learn Chinese as it's spoken in real life.
FluentU has a wide range of contemporary videos—like dramas, TV shows, commercials and music videos.
FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
FluentU's Learn Mode turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples for the word you're learning.
The best part is that FluentU always keeps track of your vocabulary. It customizes quizzes to focus on areas that need attention and reminds you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You have a 100% personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
