Ways to say it
| Spanish | IPA |
|---|---|
| felices y comieron perdices | /feliθes i komjeɾon peɾdiθes/ (Spain, from spelling rules) /felises i komjeɾon peɾdises/ (Latin America, from spelling rules) |
| y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado | /ʝ koloˈɾin koloˈɾado ˈeste ˈkwento se ˈa akaˈbado/ (phoneme, word by word) |
| felices por siempre jamás | /feliθes poɾ sjempɾe xamas/ (Spain, from spelling rules) /felises poɾ sjempɾe xamas/ (Latin America, from spelling rules) |
| felices el resto de sus días | /feliθes el ɾesto de sus dias/ (Spain, from spelling rules) /felises el ɾesto de sus dias/ (Latin America, from spelling rules) |
| feliz para siempre | /feliθ paɾa sjempɾe/ (Spain, from spelling rules) /felis paɾa sjempɾe/ (Latin America, from spelling rules) |
Spanish offers several ways to express this concept depending on whether you want to sound like a storyteller or a literal describer. felices y comieron perdices is a traditional, idiomatic and playful way to express a fairy tale ending. If you want to be more literal and descriptive, you can use felices el resto de sus días to say they lived happily for the rest of their days. Other variants include feliz para siempre and the rhythmic, rhyming formula y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado, which is used specifically to signal the end of a children's story.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase felices y comieron perdices literally translates to 'happy and they ate partridges'.
Which one should you use?
While felices y comieron perdices is the traditional idiomatic expression for a fairy tale ending, felices el resto de sus días is a more literal and descriptive way to convey that someone lived happily for the remainder of their lives.
How does it change in a sentence?
In the phrase felices y comieron perdices, the adjective felices must be in the plural form to agree with the implied plural subject, which refers to the characters in the story.
How do you pronounce it?
/feliθes i komjeɾon peɾdiθes/
When do people say it?
The rhyming phrase y colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado (and colorín colorado, this tale has ended) is a common rhythmic formula used to signal to children that a story is over.
Did you know?
- The phrase felices por siempre jamás uses the word jamás, which typically means 'never', but here it emphasizes that the happiness will last for all eternity.
- The word cuento in the closing rhyme shares an ancient linguistic ancestor with the English word 'compute'. This is because the Latin root referred to 'calculating' or 'reckoning', which evolved into the concept of a 'tale' or 'account'.
- The phrase felices y comieron perdices uses 'partridges' because these birds were once considered a luxury food and a symbol of wealth in Spain.
Examples in context
- Y fueron felices y comieron perdices.And they all lived happily ever after.This sentence shows a complete fairy tale ending using felices y comieron perdices.Tatoeba #1402228 by Shishir, translation #1402284 by enteka
- Vivieron felices y comieron perdices.They lived happily ever after.This sentence is an example of using felices y comieron perdices to describe how characters lived.Tatoeba #1711014 by Shishir, translation #290772 by blay_paul
- Los cuentos infantiles suelen comenzar con la frase "érase una vez…" y terminan con un "…y vivieron felices y comieron perdices".Fairy tales usually start with “once upon a time…” and end with “…and they lived happily ever after”.This sentence explains how children's stories often start and end using felices y comieron perdices.Tatoeba #1427096 by enteka, translation #1427128 by enteka
- Que tengan una vida llena de amor y felicidad, felices por siempre.May you have a life full of love and happiness, happily ever after.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Lucía and Alejandro are talking about a movie they just watched.
- LucíaEl final fue muy dulce, fueron felices y comieron perdices.The ending was very sweet, they lived happily ever after.
- AlejandroSí, aunque es un final muy típico de película.Yes, although it is a very typical movie ending.
- Lucía¿Crees que realmente fueron felices y comieron perdices?Do you think they really lived happily ever after?
- AlejandroNo lo sé, pero es un final agradable.I don't know, but it's a pleasant ending.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “happily ever after” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- IPA marked “word by word” joins the Wiktionary pronunciations of each word (y, colorín, colorado, este, cuento, se, ha, acabado) and can differ in connected speech.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries colorado, colorín, cuento, este, se, y, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
