Ways to say it
| Spanish | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|
| feliz cumpleaños | /feˌliθ kumpleˈaɲos/ /feˌlis kumpleˈaɲos/ |
|
| feliz cumple | /feliθ kumple/ (Spain, from spelling rules) /felis kumple/ (Latin America, from spelling rules) |
familiar |
The phrase is used to offer good wishes for someone's birthday. Feliz cumpleaños is the standard and most common way to express this sentiment.
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of feliz (happy) and cumpleaños (birthday).
Which one should you use?
Feliz cumple is a shortened, more casual version of feliz cumpleaños.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Feliz cumpleaños is the standard form, while feliz cumple is a familiar and casual version used with friends and family.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Mexico, you can say ¡Felicidades en tu cumpleaños! In Argentina, people may say ¡Feliz cumple, che! In Colombia, you might hear ¡Feliz cumpleaños, parcero! and in Peru, ¡Feliz cumpleaños, pata! is used.
How does it change in a sentence?
The word cumpleaños is a masculine noun. It is a compound of cumplir (to fulfill or complete) and años (years). In written Spanish, it is standard to use opening exclamation marks (¡) at the beginning of the phrase, such as in ¡Feliz cumpleaños!
How do you pronounce it?
/feˌliθ kumpleˈaɲos/
When do people say it?
While feliz cumpleaños is the standard greeting, other common ways to express birthday wishes include Que tengas un cumpleaños lleno de alegría y bendiciones (May you have a birthday filled with joy and blessings), Mis mejores deseos en tu cumpleaños (My best wishes on your birthday) and Que cumplas muchos más (May you have many more birthdays to come). You might also say ¡Deseándote un cumpleaños cargado de alegría! (Wishing you a birthday full of joy!) or Le deseo un maravilloso cumpleaños (I wish you a wonderful birthday).
Did you know?
- In Mexico, a birthday celebration often includes the custom of la mordida, where guests chant for the birthday person to take a first bite of the cake without using their hands.
- In many Spanish-speaking cultures, instead of just saying feliz cumpleaños, people often sing 'Las Mañanitas' to the birthday person, especially in Mexico.
- In Spanish, you do not 'have' a birthday, but rather you cumplo años, which describes the act of completing years of life.
Examples in context
- Te deseo un feliz cumpleaños.I wish you a happy birthday.This sentence shows how to use the form feliz cumpleaños to wish someone a happy birthday.Tatoeba #1187273 by Shishir, translation #897532 by CM
- Te deseo un retrasado feliz cumpleaños.Wishing you a belated Happy Birthday.This sentence uses the form feliz cumpleaños to wish someone a belated happy birthday.Tatoeba #5628428 by albrusgher, translation #3595119 by DostKaplan
- ¡Feliz cumple!Happy Birthday!This sentence demonstrates the colloquial form feliz cumple.Tatoeba #3490513 by cueyayotl, translation #5229053 by jaxhere
- 14 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
María is greeting Daniel at his birthday party.
- María¡Feliz cumpleaños, Daniel!Happy birthday, Daniel!
- Daniel¡Muchas gracias, María!Thank you very much, María!
- María¿Te gusta tu regalo?Do you like your gift?
- DanielSí, me encanta. Gracias.Yes, I love it. Thanks.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “happy birthday” translations and entries feliz cumpleaños, 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.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
