How to Say Happy Birthday in Japanese: Spoken Wishes for Every Person

The core phrase and how it is built

The word for birthday is tanjōbi, written 誕生日, and the word for congratulations is omedetō. Put together with nothing between them, tanjōbi omedetō is the plainest way to wish someone a happy birthday. There is no verb, no subject and no article, which is why learners often feel the phrase is too short to be a sentence. It is not; Japanese greetings are routinely this compact.

Two additions raise the politeness. The prefix o- in front of tanjōbi shows respect for the other person's birthday rather than your own, and the ending gozaimasu turns omedetō into its polite form. You can add either or both, and the fully polite o-tanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu is what you hear from shop staff, in offices and from anyone speaking to someone senior. A middle version, tanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu without the o-, is common in speech and perfectly fine.

To a friend, a partner or a child

With people you are close to, the short form is enough, but the particles that follow it do the emotional work. Tanjōbi omedetō ne is warm and slightly soft, tanjōbi omedetō yo is a little more emphatic, and a stretched omedetō with a rising tone is how excited friends greet each other. It is normal to add the number of years, though only with friends who will not mind.

To a child, the phrase is the same, but the tone is brighter and you can add the child's name with chan or kun. Ask how old they are now, nansai ni natta no, because a child will almost always want to tell you. Adults asking each other the same question is another matter, and we return to that below.

To a colleague, a boss or a customer

In an office, a birthday is usually mentioned briefly rather than celebrated loudly. To a colleague of the same rank, tanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu with a smile is the standard, and among people who are friendly with each other the plain form is fine. To a boss, a client or anyone senior, use the fully polite o-tanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu and pair it with a small bow of the head.

The follow-up sentence changes too. Instead of asking about plans, senior people are wished good health or a good year in more formal words: subarashii ichinen ni narimasu yō ni, may it be a wonderful year, or o-karada ni ki o tsukete, please take care of your health, which is heard when the birthday is a round number. If several people are speaking together, one person says the wish and the others add omedetō gozaimasu in chorus.

Singing happy birthday in Japanese

At parties, restaurants and school events, the birthday song is the English one with the familiar melody. The words are sung as happī bāsudē tsū yū, repeated, then happī bāsudē dia followed by the person's name with san, chan or kun, and a final happī bāsudē tsū yū. Everyone claps on the last note and the person blows out the candles.

The name line is the only part you must prepare. For a friend called Kenta you sing happī bāsudē dia Kenta-kun, for a colleague happī bāsudē dia Satō-san, and for a small child the chan form. There is also an older Japanese version, o-tanjōbi omedetō sung to the same tune, that some kindergartens use, but if you join a birthday dinner in Japan, the English words are what you will hear.

Replying when someone wishes you a happy birthday

The reply is short. Arigatō to a friend, arigatō gozaimasu to anyone else, and that is genuinely enough. Learners sometimes try to be modest, because Japanese often deflects compliments, but a birthday wish is not a compliment and denying it sounds odd. Accept it, thank the person and, if you like, add one line.

The natural second line depends on the person. To a friend, oboetete kureta n da, you remembered, is warm. To a colleague, wazawaza arigatō gozaimasu, thank you for going to the trouble, acknowledges that they took a moment to say it. If the person is older, or if they gave you a present, add these lines with a slightly deeper nod.

If it is the other person's birthday too, mo does the work: Tanaka-san mo omedetō gozaimasu, congratulations to you as well.

Belated wishes and asking someone's birthday

Japanese has no single word for belated. Instead you add a short clause admitting that you are late, then say the usual wish. To a friend, osoku natta kedo, tanjōbi omedetō, it's late but happy birthday, is the everyday version. To someone senior, osoku narimashita ga, o-tanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu. If you missed it by more than a few days, add a light apology such as ki ga tsukanakute gomen, sorry I didn't notice, rather than a heavy one.

Asking a birthday is friendly and normal. O-tanjōbi wa itsu desu ka is the polite question, tanjōbi itsu with a rising tone is the casual one. People answer with the month and day using gatsu and nichi, so listen for the day counters that change shape: tsuitachi for the first, futsuka for the second, mikka for the third, and so on up to tōka for the tenth, then hatsuka for the twentieth.

What you should not ask casually is a person's age. Nansai desu ka is fine with children and close friends, but adults often find it intrusive from someone they do not know well. If you want to know, wait for them to say it, or ask instead what year they were born in a joking tone among friends.

Which version for whom

The table below pulls the choices together. Read down the Say column and notice that the wish itself barely changes; what changes is the frame around it.

If a row seems too formal for the person in front of you, that is usually a sign that you are closer than you thought, and the shorter form is fine. The reverse mistake, being too casual with a senior person, is the one to avoid.

Mistakes that make the wish land badly

Most birthday mistakes come from mixing registers. Omedetō to a client sounds like you are talking to a friend; o-tanjōbi omedetō gozaimasu to your best friend sounds like a joke, unless you mean it as one. Decide who the person is to you before you open your mouth, and the rest follows.

A few other habits are worth dropping. Do not translate many happy returns or have a great one word by word; the Japanese follow-ups above do that job. Do not ask an adult's age as part of the wish. And do not go quiet after saying it: a wish followed by a question about plans, a comment about the cake or a simple ureshii desu in reply keeps the moment natural.

• Using plain omedetō with a boss, client or someone's parents
• Clipping the long vowels: omedeto and gozaimas sound rushed
• Asking nansai desu ka of an adult you do not know well
• Denying the wish with a modest iie instead of a thank-you
• Forgetting the name line in the song, so everyone waits for you
• Saying happī bāsudē to a senior person as the main greeting

If you do slip, a quick shitsurei shimashita, excuse me, and a repeat in the right form fixes it. Japanese speakers correct their own register mid-sentence all the time, and nobody minds.