Few weeks ago I have been writing about days, months and numbers. Today since someone is celebrating her birthday, its timely to know how to day the greetings in Korean. Birthday in Korean is 생일 (saeng-il) so to day happy birthday:
- 생일 축하합니다 (saeng-il chukha-hamnida) this is polite formal way to say it
- 생일 축하해요 (saeng-il chukha-haeyo) this is the casual polite way
Birth of a child is known as 탄생 (tansaeng) in Korea and birthplace would be 출생지 (chulsaengji). To ask date of birth one may use the word, 생년월일 (saeng-nyon-wo-ril).
It Started with Hangul 
Hi! I’ve came across your blog while I was searching for polite Korean greetings in the Internet. I have just been hired as an executive secretary in a Korean firm here in the Philippines and I’m still familiarizing myself to the ethics and etiquettes in the Korean culture. Your blog was very informative to me especially on Korean greetings. But it could have been better if you could include your blog, the proper pronunciation of these Korean phrases and greetings, aside from the Romanized translation of the Korean symbols. Thank you and keep up the good work.
hey! 4th of april is my birthday too!! haha….
THX!! WELL DONE!!
hahaha..thnx 4 the share..im learning hangul now..its interesting since i love dbsk n ft island
thx 4 sharing ^_^
hi, i want to ask.
saeng-il chukha-hamnida means happy birthday to you or happy birthday?
actually there is no ‘you’ in the phrase saengil chukhahamnida because subject or object can be dropped in a Korean statement. nevertheless saengil chukhahamnida can mean happy birthday to you.
Hi.. I’m from Philippines.. Me, too, is interested to learn hangul.. love dbsk so much so i’m trying to learn.. ^^,
hmmm.. is it written as saeng-il chukhahamnida? or chukha is separated from hamnida..? 🙂
its written together and not separated =) hamnida is an auxiliary verb in formal style.
hello there, i was searching some korean word and accidently click in your blog and it was Great to have everything which i wanted here. My boyfriend is a korean and his bday is around the corner, but i need some sentences translation, wondering whether u could help me ?
hi san san thanks for dropping by a comment, i have sent you email through the address you provided.
I want everything on your blog.! ^-^
how to reply 생일 축하해요 in casual way?
You can simply say thank you –> 고마워 (intimate) or 고마워요 (polite casual).
Ah, your blog is very helpful..
Please don’t stop blogging..
You’re a life-saver..
I love to learn 한글 but I stopped because of the lack of my vocabularies..
I’ve bookmarked your blog, and will visit it to learn more and more from you..
정말 감사합니다 ㅆ_ㅆ
i read and learned from other sources that literally, if you break down the words from the sentence, it actually says “congratulations to your birthday”.
yup it actually means congratulations its your birthday.
so you can also greet someone happy birthday by saying.
생일 행복합니다 or 생일 행복하세요 but this is not the common way to say it in Korean.
thank you for the blog 🙂 stay awesome
Huhu thanks your blog is awesome ^^
how to write belated happy birthday in hangul?
Hi,
I’ve just stumbled upon your blog two years later (March 24, 2010), but please let me congratulate you on it. You’ve the burden of trying to help people at various levels–and that ain’t easy! Everytime I think of asking you to bring something down to my level I appreciate that were you to do so it would just bore the socks off those who’ve already mastered my stage.
So, thanks very much for your kind dedication.
Sincerely yours,
Steve
how do you say Happy Belated Birthday in Korean. how do you write it? thanks.
i m not sure how to day it the exactly that way in English 늦어진 (neujeojin means belated) so maybe:
늦어진 생일 축하합니다 (neujeojin saengil chukhahamnida). Will confirm if this is acceptable to Koreans.
hello(: thanks for sharing! (: I’d like to know which way should I use if I am saying it to an idol?(like superjunior)
hi!!! i lke korean girls cuz even they’re not so pretty ther charming’ jekjekjek…will it be appropraite in the english tune of happy birthday????☺☺☺☻☻☻♥♥♥
Yes, that’s how it is sung
Really, Koseph! Korean girls “not so pretty”?? Ah, my friend, you have SO much to learn about women. And people, too.
The very first thing for you to learn is, at all costs, never, ever, insult a woman’s beauty.
Perhaps what you regard as their charm is actually the Korean manner of politeness and graciousness that they use to cover up the hurt they feel when they sense someone’s disdain for them.
And the second thing for you to learn is that you cheat yourself when you fail to recognize and enjoy what beauty a woman does have.
Hey… my friend has a birthday coming up, i discovered a poem in English.. do you want to help me translate it? it’s in a short paragraph and uses plain english.. any help? you could drop me your email…
thankkss, will be deeply appreciated 😀
p.s. : i want it in a romanized korean =D
Kam sa hamnida
your helping me a lot..thanks to you..and since i love DBSK and SS501..
i love korea..!!yephey!..
I have a question, what is the translation of “All i want for my birthday is your greeting” in korean language??
나에게 생일 너의인사말을 하고 싶어요. (naege saengil neoui insamareul hago shipeoyo)
hi im from ph…whats the korean of I hate you???
니가 싫어 (niga shiro)
How do you say belated happy birthday in korean?
I’ve been looking out for this kind of blog to know how to use Korean lang…. I understand more and more about it while browsing your blog! very interesting! Keep it up! 🙂
Hi i really love your blog.. ^^ its really helpful to us people who wants to learn Korean/ Hangul.
But I want to ask you if you can recommend me a website that can translate Korean to English, coz I have this Korean friend, we always talk in YM and sometimes he will reply me some Hangul words that I can’t understand +_+ hope you can help me. ^^
And THANK YOU so much for this blog =)
Keep it up!!
i just found out about this site bab.la it has online dictionary but if you want translation i think google translate is an easy one though it doesn’t give exact translation ins some cases
안녕하세요 !!
how do you say “happy birthday to my dearest friend ?”
thanks for making this blog.
now i’m going to learn more about Hangul.
thank you so much!
How do you say it;s someone’s birthday? You know that thing that you put up as a reminder, like It’s Daehyun’s birthday or fsdfsdf’s Birthday? :))
안녕! I have something I’m curious about. How do you say it’s someone’s birthday? You know that thing that you put up as a reminder, like It’s Daehyun’s birthday or fsdfsdf’s Birthday? THANKS!
대휸의 생일 (daehyunui saengil) daehyun’s birthday sorry this reply is too late 😦
how to say thank you very much for your greetings in hangul
너무 감사합니다 nomu kamsahamnida
I’m trying to write Happy 1st Birthday on a Dol Tower for my daughter’s 1st. What is typically written as there is not that much room?