feliz cumpleaños a tu mamá
/feliθ kumpleaɲos a tu mama/from spelling rules
The English phrase "happy birthday to your mom" is translated into Spanish as feliz cumpleaños a tu mamá.
This phrase is used to express good wishes to someone on their mother's birthday. A very common, natural alternative to feliz cumpleaños is ¡Felicidades a tu mamá!, which translates to "Congratulations/Best wishes to your mom!"
Which one should you use?
Adding exclamation marks is the standard way to convey the enthusiastic tone typical of birthday wishes in Spanish, as seen in ¡Feliz cumpleaños a tu mamá!
How does it change in a sentence?
Use su instead of tu in the phrase feliz cumpleaños a su mamá if you are speaking to the person using the formal usted form.
How do you pronounce it?
/feliθ kumpleaɲos a tu mama/
Did you know?
- In Mexico and other parts of Latin America, people often wake a mother on her birthday by singing Las Mañanitas before saying feliz cumpleaños.
- The word cumpleaños is a compound of cumple ('fulfills') and años ('years'), meaning a birthday is literally a 'year-fulfiller'.
- In many Spanish-speaking families, a mother's birthday is celebrated with a pastel or torta, but the style and name of the cake vary significantly between Spain and Latin America.
Examples in context
- ¡Feliz cumpleaños a tu mamá! Espero que lo pase bien.Happy birthday to your mom! I hope she has a good time.
- Quiero decir feliz cumpleaños a tu mamá.I want to say happy birthday to your mom.
Example conversation
Javier and Elena are chatting at school.
- JavierHola Elena, ¿es el cumpleaños de tu madre hoy?Hi Elena, is it your mother's birthday today?
- ElenaSí, Javier, hoy cumple sesenta años.Yes, Javier, she turns sixty today.
- Javier¡Qué bien! Por favor, dile feliz cumpleaños a tu mamá.That's great! Please, say happy birthday to your mom.
- ElenaMuchas gracias, se lo diré más tarde.Thank you very much, I will tell her later.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries a, cumpleaños, feliz, mamá, tu, CC BY-SA 4.0.
