Learning how to say happy birthday in Icelandic – it’ll go a long way with your Icelandic friends! So, let’s dive in and find out how to wish your friends happy birthday in Icelandic.
The land of fire and ice has massively grown in popularity over the past couple of years. From growing tourism to Eurovision fame, to Icelandic comedy hitting huge platforms like Netflix, interest in the Icelandic language has never been higher.
A great way to show your appreciation for Icelandic people and the language? Learn how to say happy birthday!
How to Say Happy Birthday in Icelandic
Wishing someone a happy birthday in their native language is always worth learning how to do, even if you don’t speak the language completely. It’s a nice touch and shows that you appreciate them and their culture. So, to say happy birthday in Icelandic, you’d say:
Til hamingju með afmælið which is pronounced, “Til haming-yu me-th au-mai-lith”.
Icelandic is notoriously a tricky language to learn so you might want to practice the pronunciation of this greeting a couple of times before the big day!
Alternative Congratulatory Phrases in Icelandic
Don’t want to say happy birthday or you’re congratulating your Icelandic friend for another reason? We’ve got you covered with these alternate congratulatory words and phrases in Icelandic.
First up, we’ve got the standard “congratulations”. This covers a lot of bases, so if you only want to learn one Icelandic celebratory phrase, this is going to be the one you’ll get the most out of.
Congratulations in Icelandic is Til hamingju, which is actually spelled pretty phonetically anyway (Til haming-yu).
You can elongate this greeting by saying “Congratulations on your day”. This would be “Til hamingju með daginn”, which is pronounced as Til haming-yu me-th dayn.
Looking for something more formal to say or write in a birthday card? Why not go with the Icelandic translation of best wishes? It’s written Bestu óskir, and pronounced Besh-tu oosh-kir.
How to Sing Happy Birthday in Icelandic
Who doesn’t love to see the birthday person sitting awkwardly by a cake as everyone sings happy birthday at them? It’s a special kind of torture! Don’t miss out on the fun and check out the Icelandic version of the happy birthday song.
Luckily, it’s the exact same tune as the English language birthday song, so you only have to learn the new lyrics:
“Hann/hún á afmæli í dag!
hann/hún á afmæli í dag!
hann/hún á afmæli hann/hún [insert name here],
hann/hún á afmæli í dag!”
If you’re looking for pronunciation help, it’s essentially ‘haan/hoon ow ah-mile ee dak’.
This translates into English as:
“It’s his/her birthday today!
It’s his/her birthday today!
It’s his/her birthday, dear [insert name here],
It’s his/her birthday today!”
Simply remove hann or hún as necessary and you’re ready to wish your friend many happy returns!
Check out this cute video of a group singing Happy Birthday in Icelandic:
Although Icelandic is a tricky language to learn, you can surprise your Icelandic friends and show that you appreciate their culture by easily learning how to say happy birthday in Icelandic. Go ahead, make their day!
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Dayna Brockbank is a travel and language-learning blogger who has lived around the world but has now settled in Nice, France. She speaks 3 languages at varying levels of fluency: Spanish, Italian, and French, and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Spanish Education. She and her husband focus on making travel part of life by living cheaply and traveling on a budget.