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Happy Birthday in French

This free audio lesson will teach you the 2 common ways to say Happy Birthday in French, (Joyeux anniversaire ! and Bon anniversaire !) as well as how to sing Happy Birthday in French! And discover a few other words and expressions that are used in the context of a French birthday party.

You can test your pronunciation with our free voice recognition software! Listen to the audio and follow the French pronunciation. It's a good idea to practice each French expression aloud, and before long you'll be comfortable with pronouncing these French words and phrases!

Resources for further reading:

How to sing Happy Birthday in French!

The Happy birthday song in French

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Happy Birthday in French

How to say Happy birthday in French

Unsurprisingly, French people love to have parties and to celebrate, and in particular they appreciate anniversaries and gifts!

To wish someone a happy birthday, French people will use the expression joyeux anniversaire or bon anniversaire.

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

Rocket Record lets you perfect your French pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!

Joyeux anniversaire !

Happy birthday!

Bon anniversaire !

Happy birthday! (Literally; A good birthday!)

Un anniversaire

A birthday

Joyeux is happy, whereas bon translates simply to good.

Since bon is followed with a vowel, it is pronounced like bonne, the feminine form of the adjective. This pronunciation can be a little confusing, and children or inattentive people will sometimes mistakenly write bonne anniversaire.

French people will of course offer presents, and eat a cake after the candles have been blown by the aging person. A lot of photos generally immortalize the event,and people sing "Joyeux anniversaire !" to the tune of "Happy birthday to you!". Some champagne is often poured in flutes!

More about having a Happy birthday in French

Meilleurs vœux pour votre anniversaire !

Best wishes on your birthday

Le cadeau

The present

La bougie

The candle

Du Champagne

Some champagne

Une coupe de champagne

A flute of champagne

Le gâteau

The cake

Le gâteau au chocolat

The chocolate cake

Birthday in French

That’s it for today’s French lesson on saying Happy Birthday in French. I hope you enjoyed it, that you learned new expressions and improved your pronunciation!

From here why not do a lesson on describing your family in French?

À bientôt !

Marie-Claire Rivière and the Rocket French Team

Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement

Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities! These activities are scientifically designed to improve your knowledge and retention of French.