Ways to say it
| Chinese | Romanization (Wiktionary) |
|---|---|
| 生日快樂 / 生日快乐 | shēngrì kuàilè |
| 祝你生日快樂 / 祝你生日快乐 | zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè |
生日快樂 / 生日快乐 is the most common way to wish someone a happy birthday in Chinese. It is also the standard lyric used in the Chinese version of the 'Happy Birthday to You' song. While 生日快樂 / 生日快乐 functions as the greeting, note that 快樂 (kuàilè) on its own is simply a general adjective meaning 'happy' and is not a greeting.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase 生日快樂 / 生日快乐 is composed of 生日 (shēngrì), meaning 'birthday' and 快樂 (kuàilè), meaning 'happy'.
Which one should you use?
生日快樂 / 生日快乐 is the direct phrase for 'happy birthday', whereas adding 祝你 (zhù nǐ) to the beginning creates the full sentence 祝你生日快樂 / 祝你生日快乐, which means 'I wish you a happy birthday'.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
Adding 祝你 (zhù nǐ) to the beginning of the phrase turns it into a complete sentence: 'wish you a happy birthday'. To increase politeness, replace 你 (nǐ) with 您 (nín) to form 祝您生日快乐 / 祝您生日快乐.
How do you pronounce it?
shēngrì kuàilè
Did you know?
- While 生日快樂 is the standard phrase, children might be called 小壽星 (xiǎo shòuxīng) or 'little longevity star' on their birthday. This stems from the belief that a specific star governs a person's destiny and birth.
- In Chinese culture, the traditional birthday food is 長壽麵 (chángshòu miàn) or 'long-life noodles'. It is customary not to cut or break the noodles while eating them because they symbolize a long and unbroken life.
- In very traditional settings, the phrase 福如東海, 壽比南山 (fú rú dōnghǎi, shòu bǐ nánshān) is used. It wishes the person 'happiness as vast as the Eastern Sea and longevity as great as the Southern Mountain'.
Example sentences for Chinese are not verified yet.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “happy birthday” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
