{"id":137599,"date":"2023-06-26T15:28:05","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T19:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/happy-birthday-in-spanish\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T23:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T04:12:15","slug":"happy-birthday-in-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/spanish\/happy-birthday-in-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Say “Happy Birthday” in Spanish"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celebrating birthdays is just as important in Spanish culture as it is in English!<\/p>\n

Knowing how to say “happy birthday” and send your best wishes is an essential part of speaking the language.<\/p>\n

In this post, we’ll teach you how to say “happy birthday” in Spanish<\/strong> as well as some extra birthday phrases and vocabulary you can use to congratulate them on their big day<\/a>!<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How to Say “Happy Birthday” in Spanish<\/h2>\n

Here are the most popular phrases you can use to wish someone a happy birthday:<\/p>\n

\u00a1Feliz Cumplea\u00f1os!<\/em> \u2014 <\/em>Happy Birthday!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is the most common way to wish someone a “happy birthday” in Spanish across the Spanish-speaking world.<\/p>\n

Like “happy birthday!” in English, all you need is this phrase, adding a name is optional:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a1Feliz cumplea\u00f1os, Juan!<\/em> \u2014 Happy Birthday, Juan!<\/p>\n

As you will see below, this phrase is also sometimes shortened in colloquial speech to “\u00a1Feliz cumple!”<\/em> which also means “happy birthday!”\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a1Feliz Cumple!<\/em> \u2014 Happy Birthday!<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cumple <\/em><\/strong>is the short version of cumplea\u00f1os.<\/em> This is also very commonly used, although it’s more informal than the first one.<\/p>\n

Note that both phrases contain some form of the verb cumplir<\/em>\u00a0(to fulfill)\u00a0+ a\u00f1os.\u00a0<\/em>This translates literally to “to complete years.” So when you wish someone feliz cumplea\u00f1os<\/em>, you are wishing them a “happy completion of this year!”<\/p>\n

\u00a1Felicidades!<\/em> \u2014 Happy Birthday!<\/h3>\n

Along with\u00a0feliz cumplea\u00f1os<\/em>,\u00a0felicidades<\/em><\/strong> is another popular birthday phrase. This phrase translates literally into English as “happiness” and is used to say “congratulations” or “best wishes” in Spanish. \u00a1Felicidades!<\/em> is often used to wish someone a happy birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here are a few birthday phrases using felicidades:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a1Felicidades!<\/em> \u2014 Happy birthday! \/ Congratulations!<\/p>\n

\u00a1Muchas felicidades!<\/em> \u2014 Many congratulations!<\/p>\n

\u00a1Muchas felicidades en tu d\u00eda!<\/em> \u2014 Many congratulations on your birthday!<\/p>\n

\u00a1Felicitaciones!<\/em> <\/strong>\u2014 Happy Birthday!<\/h3>\n

Felicitaciones<\/em><\/strong> is used in Spanish to say “congratulations.” This phrase is less common than the others in this list and is seen as a formal way of wishing someone a happy birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s worth adding\u00a0felicitaciones<\/em> to your Spanish vocabulary as this word can be used in many different situations:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a1Felicitaciones por tu cumplea\u00f1os!<\/em> \u2014 Happy birthday! (Literally “congratulations on your birthday”)<\/p>\n

\u00a1Felicitaciones!<\/em> \u2014 Congratulations! (General congratulations)<\/p>\n

\u00a1Feliz Cumplea\u00f1os Atrasado!<\/em> \u2014 Happy Belated Birthday!<\/h3>\n

Have you ever forgotten a family member’s birthday? Or maybe you overheard a conversation at work that it was your colleague’s birthday last weekend.<\/p>\n

Even if you’re great at remembering birthdays and important dates, it’s worth learning these phrases! Instead of pretending it never happened, say “Feliz cumplea\u00f1os atrasado” <\/em>(Happy belated birthday).<\/p>\n

You can also say these phrases, which mean the same thing:<\/p>\n