แฮปปี้เบิร์ดเดย์
The quick and easy answer for how to tell someone Happy Birthday in Thai is to just say “Happy Birthday” with Thai pronunciation.
If you want more options or would like to know what the words all mean in the different expressions, read on as this post covers everything you need to know. We even sing the Thai Happy Birthday song for you below.
How to Wish Someone Happy Birthday in Thai
There’s a few different options for saying “Happy Birthday” to you friends and loved ones in Thai.
- Happy Birthday! – Yes, you can just use English and everyone will understand.
- แฮปปี้เบิร์ดเดย์ – You can say happy birthday using the Thai sound system which isn’t too different. There is no ‘TH’ sound in Thai so “birth” sounds a lot more like “bird” or “bert” if you dropped the “r” sound.
- สุขสันต์วันเกิด (suk san wan geuod) – This is the more formal Thai blessing which you’d put on a card or you could also send/post to someone on social media. You could say it out loud to someone, but it’s very common to just say the Thai pronunciation of “Happy Birthday.”
How to Say Birthday in Thai
Like many cultures, celebrating birthdays as well as saying happy birthday are important in Thailand. As I’m writing this, it just so happens to be my วันเกิด (wan + geuod)
How do you say “birthday” in Thai? It’s actually very similar to English.
วันเกิด ( วัน / wan + เกิด / geuod)
So it’s just DAY ( วัน) + BORN ( เกิด)
How to Sing Happy Birthday in Thai?
It’s almost identical to the English version of the Happy Birthday song which you are likely already familiar with. The only difference is the 3rd line where instead of “Happy birthday dear (birthday person’s name)” just becomes another repeat of “Happy birthday”
If you can’t read Thai, the following may be a bit intimidating, but if I told you that the little snake-looking thing underneath the 2 letters in ทู and ยู made an “oooh” vowel sound, I bet you could figure out what the sounds of the 2 consonants ( ท and ย) are.
I’ve added spaces between the words to make it easier to see what’s happening if you can’t read yet, but Thai doesn’t usually put spaces between words.
แฮปปี้ เบิร์ดเดย์ ทู ยู (Happy Birthday to You)
แฮปปี้ เบิร์ดเดย์ ทู ยู (Happy Birthday to You)
แฮปปี้ เบิร์ดเดย์ แฮปปี้ เบิร์ดเดย์ (Happy Birthday Happy Birthday)
แฮปปี้เบิร์ดเดย์ ทู~~~ ยู (Happy Birthday tooooooo youuuuu)
And here’s the Thai Happy Birthday song sung just for you! Try and follow along with the text above.
Thai Happy Birthday Song
Now, let’s practice some of these Thai happy birthday words and phrases using the flashcards below.
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วันวัน
day
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เกิดเกิด
to happen
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วันเกิดวันเกิด
birthday
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สุขสันต์วันเกิดสุขสันต์วันเกิด
Happy Birthday
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แฮปปี้เบิร์ดเดย์แฮปปี้เบิร์ดเดย์
Happy Birthday
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All Done!
Want to Really Learn to Speak and Read Thai?
A really important part of learning Thai is understanding how the script and sounds work. It’s very difficult to learn the correct pronunciation using any type of English transliteration.
I know it can seem intimidating, but the time you will save by learning the script and sounds first is ridiculous. Whether or not you choose my courses and methodology, I guarantee that just getting it over with early on will save you tons of time and frustration later.
Try a couple free lessons from the first course in my learn Thai program which teaches you everything you need to know about the script, sound system and tone rules.
All lessons have audio, flashcards and explanation. You also get all the support you need from me. Ready to learn some Thai?
