What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of felicidades (happiness/congratulations), por (for/on), tu (your) and jubilación (retirement).
Which one should you use?
While felicidades por tu jubilación is a standard way to express the sentiment, enhorabuena por tu jubilación is a more formal and sophisticated way to say "congratulations". For a shorter and more idiomatic way to express the same sentiment, you can say ¡Feliz jubilación!
Is it said differently in some regions?
In some Latin American countries, ¡Felicidades por tu retiro! is commonly used, substituting retiro for jubilación.
How does it change in a sentence?
To express congratulations to someone you address with the formal usted, use the possessive adjective su instead of tu, as in felicidades por su jubilación.
How do you pronounce it?
/feliθidades poɾ tu xubilaθjon/
Did you know?
- The root of jubilación is the Latin iūbilō, meaning to shout for joy. This gives the Spanish word for 'retirement' an inherent feeling of celebration that the English 'retirement' lacks.
- While retiro is common for retirement in Latin America, in Spain the word often refers to a spiritual retreat or moving into a monastery.
- The formal alternative enhorabuena literally means 'in a good hour'. It suggests that the person has reached their retirement at a particularly lucky or auspicious moment.
Examples in context
- ¡Felicidades por tu jubilación, amigo!Congratulations on your retirement, friend!
- Muchas felicidades por tu jubilación y disfruta tu tiempo libre.Many congratulations on your retirement and enjoy your free time.
Example conversation
Sofía greets Mateo at a small party for his last day of work.
- Sofía¡Mateo, muchas felicidades por tu jubilación!Mateo, congratulations on your retirement!
- MateoMuchas gracias, Sofía. Estoy muy contento.Thank you very much, Sofía. I am very happy.
- Sofía¿Tienes planes para descansar?Do you have plans to rest?
- MateoSí, quiero viajar mucho ahora.Yes, I want to travel a lot now.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries jubilación, por, tu, CC BY-SA 4.0.
