Birthdays are important occasions in Russia and are celebrated от всей души (wholeheartedly). The traditional greeting is С днём рождения! (Happy Birthday) although the и sound is rarely annunciated. So it sounds more like С днём рожденья or, for particularly fast-talking Russians, even с днём рожденя. Sometimes you might also hear с днём варенья (literally: happy jam day), which is used mostly to congratulate children or really good friends.
With the opening line of your greeting taken care of, let’s move on to the birthday wishes. Russians have some very formulaic пожелания (wishes) phrases that cover pretty much all the different special occasions and work well for birthdays. Some of them are
Желаю всего самого лучшего (I am wishing you all the best) is the basic one. You can start here and then elaborate.
Желаю здоровья, счастья и любви (I am wishing you health, happiness and love) is another commonly used greeting.
Желаю, чтобы у тебя всё было, а тебе за это ничего бы не было (I wish you have it all without repercussions) is ok if you are good friends with the именинница (birthday girl, woman) or именинник (birthday boy, man).
Желаю, чтобы все Ваши мечты сбылись (I wish that all your dreams come true) or Желаю всего, чего Вы сами себе желаете (I wish you all that you wish for yourself) always work. You can replace the formal Ваши (your) with an informal твои (your) for a close friend or a child.
If you end up going to a birthday party and would like to toast your friend, you can use one of the above greetings as a toast with only slight changes. Always start with Я предлагаю выпить за _______ (I propose we drink to _____). Then add a greeting, starting with Желаю ей/ему (Wishing her/him)…
Oh, and instead of the _______ use either the name of the birthday person, the word именинница or именинник, or a phrase виновница торжества (hero of the day, for a woman) or виновник торжества (hero of the day, for a man).
Удачи (Good luck) and enjoy the party!
Great stuff to know! Thank you!
You are welcome, Anita! We are going to cover more of this type of practical vocabulary as we move along. What other topics would you like to see on this blog?
This is a great job. Your twitter is great too. So helpfull to keep my Russian at least basic. Thanks.
Stephane, thank you! Glad you’ve found this post useful. More are coming so don’t forget to subscribe to the feed. Also, if you’d like, let us know what would be most helpful for you to keep improving your Russian.
Great! Very informative. Liked it alot!
Thank you, Phil! Stay tuned for more and if there’s anything in particular you’d like to know about Russia, its language and culture, please let us know and we’ll write about it.
Wow, that’s seriously useful – and must have taken a lot of work to put together. Well done and thank you!
Thank you, Rachel! What other useful Russian language and culture information would you like to see in the future?
Absolutely wonderful site. It took me a long time to find Happy birthday to send my Russian friend. Wonderful, Thankyou
Colette, I’m glad that our very first post was so helpful. Let us know what else you’d like to read and we’ll do it.
very helpful, I find phrases a useful way to absorb the language. But even more helpful would be the sound as well! Is that asking too much? Sorry!
Jon, this is a very common problem and the one I can relate to. English was difficult for me to learn just from books, but I heard people actually pronounce words and phrases, it became much easier. Let me think about this and how it can be done.
Interesting
Hiyanuh, thank you!
Yelena, this was a great blog entry! I love learning phrases and ways to ‘fit in’. I would really appreciate if you would explain how to give condolences or express sympathy for someone who has experienced a loss or a death in the family, from a friend to a friend. Thank your for your willingness to teach us!
Margo, thank you! I will most definitely write a post about how to express sympathy and extend condolences in Russian.
….and (now I start thinking about it) the language you need as a learner: what do you call X? please speak slower, please repeat…, poka!
Jon, thank you for the feedback! Yes, I will write a post about these very useful phrases in the next 2 weeks.
and…. is there somewhere to get an mp3 of Russian stories? I have a bilingual book (Russian one page, English facing) of short stories, Pushkin’s Stationmaster, Gogol’s Nose etc. It would be helpful to hear the Russian because pronunciation is so difficult. Sbasiba
You can get some free audio books and buy many more very cheaply here http://www.imobilco.ru/music/
and….me again. I like the word of the day – can I suggest adding related words. It’s easier to learn words in groups. Today is big bolshoi, small should be there too. heri hodie cras, gestern heute morgen, hier aujourd’hiu demain, ieri oggi domani, vchera sevodnia zavtra.
forgotten the English
Yelena, this was a great blog entry! I love learning phrases and ways to ‘fit in’. I would really appreciate it!
Yelena, this is a wonderful blog! I have learned my languages through the use of phraseology, and you have made good use of them here.
Большое спасибо, Brian (English, Russian, German, Korean)
Thank you, Brian!
Yelena, may I please copy the photograph of the flower to add to my Cousin’s 80th Birthday card . I don’t think I would be very good at copying the correct writing and as he is fluent in Russian and I would hate to make a mistake.
I would like to place the picture in the centre of a card which would have other places he has known throughout his life.
Many thanks
Barbara
Hi Barbara, yes, of course! It’s an old Soviet postcard. You can find a lot more at this link – https://www.google.com/search?q=советские+открытки+с+днем+рождения (just switch to Images view).
Many thanks Yelena, this one fits in well with what I am making.
Made my day!
Thank you! Great blog! And useful