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Ready to discover everything you ever wanted to know about the basic phrase “Joyeux anniversaire”?
This include a detailed guide of what it is and how to use it in a casual conversation with an audio example. And because we want you to learn efficiently, we also added some useful informations like dialogue example, slow pronunciation audio, synonym and more!
If you want, on this page you can find our others phrases guides plus all our French words guides on this page. Ready to learn? Let’s go!
“Joyeux anniversaire” is the common way to say “Happy birthday” in French. (We also use “Bon anniversaire” frequently.)
To keep it simple, use one of these:
For a complete sentence in an informal context, use instead:
And for a formal context, use:
Finally, if you want to amplify your wish, you can add “très” (very) before “bon“. Example: “Je te souhaite un très bon anniversaire” (I wish you a very good birthday)
To wish someone a happy birthday in Quebec, you should use instead “Joyeuse fête“. (Which doesn’t work in France)
Also, when singing to wish someone a happy birthday in France, we use exactly the same melody as the song “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you *name* (…)“. So it becomes “Joyeux anniversaire, joyeux anniversaire *name* (…)“
