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A birthday is a very special occasion in the Korean culture, and the importance of a birthday celebration is practiced right from the start, as the biggest celebration of all is a child\u2019s first birthday. However, this practice of celebrating each other\u2019s birthday continues, and just like in English, we celebrate each other\u2019s birthday by saying \u2018happy birthday\u2019 to each other. So knowing how to say \u2018happy birthday\u2019 in Korean is pretty important in the Korean culture.<\/p>\n
In this article, we’ll explore various expressions related to birthdays. First, we\u2019ll explain how to ask when someone\u2019s birthday is and how to say when our birthday is, and then we\u2019ll wrap up by showing you how to say \u2018happy birthday\u2019 in Korean!<\/p>\n
The Korean word for birthday is \uc0dd\uc77c.<\/p>\n
This is the standard word for \u2018birthday\u2019. Now if you didn\u2019t know already, much of Korean language is based on Chinese characters and this word \uc0dd\uc77c also has its roots in the Chinese language. The syllable \uc0dd (seng) means ‘birth’ and \uc77c (il) means day, so the literal meaning of \uc0dd\uc77c is birthday.<\/p>\n
There is a more respectful term for the word \uc0dd\uc77c and this is \uc0dd\uc2e0.<\/p>\n
\uc0dd\uc2e0 is a more respectful term, and how we use this term is dependent on our age and position in the society in relation to the person we\u2019re speaking to. For example, if a 40-year-old person was talking about the birthday of his or her English teacher who\u2019s 30, then he or she would probably still use \uc0dd\uc77c as even though the student should be respectful to the teacher, the teacher is younger, so using \uc0dd\uc2e0 is unnecessary. However, if a 14-year-old student was referring to the birthday of his or her teacher who\u2019s 30, then the student should use \uc0dd\uc2e0 to be respectful to the teacher.<\/p>\n
So the key aspect to the use of \uc0dd\uc77c and \uc0dd\uc2e0 is dependent on your relationship with those you\u2019re speaking to.<\/p>\n
To ask when someone’s birthday is, it’s important to use the correct language form, depending on who you’re talking to.<\/p>\n
In Korean, the language you use depends mostly on whether the other person is older than you and whether you are familiar with that person, so let’s say that you’re 30 and you’re talking to your friend’s mother whom you’ve only just met. She’s somewhere in her 60’s and the topic of her birthday party has come up in the conversation. You want to ask her when her birthday is, and in this case, you can ask \u2013 \uc0dd\uc2e0\uc774 \uc5b8\uc81c\uc138\uc694?<\/p>\n
\uc0dd\uc2e0 as we know means birthday, and \uc5b8\uc81c\uc138\uc694 basically means ‘when is?’ though this is a very respectful way of asking this question. So ‘\uc0dd\uc2e0\uc774 \uc5b8\uc81c\uc138\uc694?’ is a respectful way of asking ‘when’s your birthday?’ in Korean.<\/p>\n
This time, let’s imagine that you’re talking to someone who’s a few years older than you. You know the person well, but as the other person is older, you need to be respectful in your language use. Then you can ask \u2013 \uc0dd\uc77c\uc774 \uc5b8\uc81c\uc608\uc694?<\/p>\n
The ending of this question is \uc5b8\uc7ac\uc608\uc694, and this is the polite way of asking this question.<\/p>\n
Lastly, let’s say that you are close friends with someone, but you don’t know their birthday yet. In this case, you can ask when their birthday is using casual language \u2013 \uc0dd\uc77c\uc774 \uc5b8\uc81c\uc57c?<\/p>\n
You can also ask this question when you’re speaking to a young child.<\/p>\n
Now, there are two ways to say when our birthday is \u2013 respectfully and casually.<\/p>\n
We can say when our birthday is respectfully like this:<\/p>\n
First \uc81c \uc0dd\uc77c means ‘my birthday’, 5\uc6d4 5\uc77c means ‘May 5th<\/sup>‘ and lastly \uc774\uc5d0\uc694 is the polite form of the be-verb, so this sentence means ‘My birthday is on May 5th<\/sup>‘.<\/p>\n The key words that make this sentence respectful are the polite form of ‘my’ \uc81c and the polite verb ending \uc774\uc5d0\uc694. We would use this sentence to say when our birthday is if we’re talking to someone who’s older than us or who we’re not familiar with. As we tend to ask when someone’s birthday is during the getting to know stage with someone, this is the sentence you will most likely use to say when your birthday is.<\/p>\n One important point to keep in mind is that we use \uc0dd\uc2e0 only when we’re asking about other people’s birthday, and not when we’re talking about our birthday. This means that when someone who’s in their 60’s says when their birthday is, they don’t use \uc0dd\uc2e0 \u2013 they use \uc2f1\uc77c.<\/p>\n Let’s look at the casual sentence and see how it differs from the respectful sentence.<\/p>\n There are two key differences between this sentence and the respectful sentence. First, this sentence uses the standard form of ‘my’, which is \ub0b4, and second, this sentences uses the casual verb ending \uc774\uc57c.<\/p>\n We would use casual sentences to say when our birthday is if we’re talking to a close friend, or when we’re talking to our siblings or cousins we’re close to.<\/p>\n Now let’s look at how we can say ‘happy birthday’ in Korean. The basic expression that means ‘happy birthday’ is \uc0dd\uc77c \ucd95\ud558\ud558\ub2e4.<\/p>\n This phrase is made up of \uc0dd\uc77c which means birthday, and the verb \ucd95\ud558\ud558\ub2e4 which means ‘to congratulate’. Many Korean verbs are made up of a noun plus the verb \ud558\ub2e4 (hada) which means ‘to do’, and this verb \ucd95\ud558\ud558\ub2e4 is one those verbs. \ucd95\ud558 (chuka) is a noun that means ‘congratulations’ and it combines with the verb \ud558\ub2e4.<\/p>\n Of course, as with all Korean sentences, there are different levels of formality, so let’s look at how we can change this sentence into respectful, polite and casual forms.<\/p>\n So going back to the situation from earlier, let’s imagine that it’s your friend’s mother’s birthday today, so you want to say ‘happy birthday’ in Korean to your friend’s mother whom you’ve just met, and it’s her 65th<\/sup> birthday today. In this situation, you can say ‘happy birthday’ like this \u2013 \uc0dd\uc2e0 \ucd95\ud558\ub4dc\ub824\uc694.<\/p>\n We can make the verb \ucd95\ud558\ud558\ub2e4 into a very respectful form \ucd95\ud558\ub4dc\ub9ac\ub2e4 by combining the noun \ucd95\ud558 and \ub4dc\ub9ac\ub2e4, which is a respectful form of the verb ‘to give’, so \ucd95\ud558\ub4dc\ub9ac\ub2e4 kind of means \u2018I give congratulations\u2019.<\/p>\n Moreover, \ucd95\ud558\ub4dc\ub9ac\ub2e4 is the infinitive form, so we can further change \ucd95\ud558\ub4dc\ub9ac\ub2e4 into \ucd95\ud558\ub4dc\ub824\uc694 to make it into a respectful sentence.<\/p>\n Referring back to another situation from earlier, this time you want to say ‘happy birthday’ to someone you know quite well, but this person is a few years older than you. Even though this person is older than you, since you are familiar with this person, you can use the polite language to say ‘happy birthday’ and this is \u2013 \uc0dd\uc77c \ucd95\ud558\ud574\uc694.<\/p>\n The polite expression is made by changing \ucd95\ud558\ud558\ub2e4 to \ucd95\ud558\ud574\uc694, and we use \uc0dd\uc77c instead of \uc0dd\uc2e0. This expression is the most commonly used way of saying ‘happy birthday’ in Korean.<\/p>\n A more formal form of this expression is \uc0dd\uc77c \ucd95\ud558\ud569\ub2c8\ub2e4.<\/p>\n This is a formal form of ‘happy birthday’ in Korean, and we would use this expression in a very formal situation, such as when we’re saying ‘happy birthday’ to someone in a much more senior position, but isn’t old enough to use the word \uc0dd\uc2e0.<\/p>\n Finally, if we want to say ‘happy birthday’ to a close friend, then we can say \uc0dd\uc77c \ucd95\ud558\ud574.<\/p>\n We use this phrase to say ‘happy birthday’ when talking to close friends, or close family members who are of similar age, such as our siblings or cousins.<\/p>\n So in article, we looked at key expressions related to talking about birthdays.<\/p>\n First, there are two forms of ‘birthday’ in Korean \u2013 a standard and a respectful form:<\/p>\n When asking when someone’s birthday is, there were three levels of formality:<\/p>\n You can say when your birthday is in two different ways:<\/p>\n Lastly, to say ‘happy birthday’ in Korean, you can say \uc0dd\uc77c \ucd95\ud558\ud558\ub2e4 (sengil chuka-hada), but you can say this in four different ways:<\/p>\n That’s a pretty comprehensive overview of the language related to talking about birthdays, so next time you meet a Korean person, you should put into practice what you learned in this article.<\/p>\n Thanks for reading this article and if today happens to be your birthday, well then\u2026 \uc0dd\uc77c \ucd95\ud558\ud574\uc694!<\/p>\n Clozemaster\u00a0<\/strong>has been designed to help you learn the language in context by filling in the gaps in authentic sentences. With\u00a0features such as Grammar Challenges, Cloze-Listening, and Cloze-Reading, the app will let you emphasize all the competencies necessary to become fluent in Korean.<\/p>\nSaying when our birthday is in Korean \u2013 casual form<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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How to say ‘happy birthday’ in Korean<\/h2>\n
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‘Happy birthday’ in Korean \u2013 respectful form<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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‘Happy birthday’ in Korean \u2013 polite form<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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‘Happy birthday’ in Korean \u2013 casual form<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Wrap Up!<\/h2>\n
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