срећан рођендан
srećan rođendanBosnian, Cyrillic, Serbian
To say happy birthday in Serbian, you say срећан рођендан (srećan rođendan). Wiktionary also lists сретан рођендан (sretan rođendan) and srećan rođendan.
Meaning: good wishes for a birthday (intj)
Ways to say it
| Serbian | Romanization (Wiktionary) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| срећан рођендан | srećan rođendan | Bosnian, Cyrillic, Serbian |
| сретан рођендан | sretan rođendan | Croatian, Cyrillic |
| srećan rođendan | Bosnian, Latin, Serbian | |
| sretan rođendan | Croatian, Latin |
The phrase срећан рођендан is the simplest and most commonly used way to wish someone a happy birthday in Serbian.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of the adjective срећан (happy) and the noun рођендан (birthday).
Which one should you use?
The form срећан рођендан uses the letter ć, which is standard in Serbian. In contrast, the form сретан рођендан uses the letter t and is the standard form in Croatian.
Is it said differently in some regions?
срећан рођендан and its Latin script version srećan rođendan are used in Serbian and Bosnian, whereas сретан рођендан and sretan rođendan are used in Croatian.
How does it change in a sentence?
The adjective срећан must agree in gender with the masculine noun рођендан.
How do you pronounce it?
srećan rođendan
Did you know?
- While срећан рођендан is used for birthdays, Serbians place equal or greater importance on the krsna slava, a feast day dedicated to the family's patron saint.
- In some traditional Serbian circles, it is considered bad luck to celebrate a birthday or wish срећан рођендан before the actual date of birth.
- While срећан means 'happy', it is also the word used for 'lucky'. Wishing someone a срећан рођендан is essentially wishing them a 'lucky birthday'.
Examples in context
- Срећан рођендан!Happy birthday!This sentence shows how to use the phrase срећан рођендан.Tatoeba #398928 by FeuDRenais, translation #453219 by CM
- Срећан рођендан мојој најбољој пријатељици.Happy birthday to my best friend.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Milica gives a gift to Nikola.
- MilicaСрећан рођендан, Никола!Happy birthday, Nikola!
- NikolaХвала пуно, Милице!Thank you so much, Milica!
- MilicaНадам се да ти се свиђа поклон.I hope you like the gift.
- NikolaСигурно да се свиђа, хвала ти.I'm sure I'll like it, thank you.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “happy birthday” translations and entries срећан рођендан, сретан рођендан, srećan rođendan, sretan rođendan, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
