Happy birthday in Shanghainese, and other wishes
Happy birthday in Shanghainese is 生日快乐 san nyih khua loh ‘happy birthday’, written exactly as in Mandarin and said in Shanghainese sounds. The same pattern covers most of the wishes people make at a celebration, so once you have it you have most of the others: Merry Christmas, a happy wedding, happy holidays. Below are the phrases for birthdays, toasts, congratulations and Christmas, set beside Mandarin and Cantonese, and the two places where Shanghainese uses a different word.
Tap 🔊 to hear an example. Shanghainese examples play the recordings from Verbavia’s course, made with a Shanghainese voice; Mandarin examples play a Mandarin voice.
Happy birthday
| Shanghainese | Mandarin | Cantonese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Happy birthday | 生日快乐 san nyih khua loh | 生日快乐 shēngrì kuàilè | 生日快樂 saang1 jat6 faai3 lok6 |
| birthday | 生日 san nyih | 生日 shēngrì | 生日 saang1 jat6 |
| I wish you a happy birthday | 祝侬生日快乐 tsoh non san nyih khua loh | 祝你生日快乐 zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè | 祝你生日快樂 zuk1 nei5 saang1 jat6 faai3 lok6 |
Say the Shanghainese and the Mandarin side by side and almost every syllable has moved. 生 san has an open a where Mandarin has shēng; 日 nyih begins with the ny of canyon where Mandarin has rì; and 乐 loh ends in a catch in the throat, a trace of the -k that Cantonese still says in full as 樂 lok6. Put 祝侬 tsoh non ‘I wish you’ in front to make it a wish addressed to someone, and note the Shanghainese 侬 non ‘you’ in place of Mandarin’s 你.
The song is the same tune everywhere, and in Shanghai it is usually sung in Mandarin, or in English. The spoken wish is where Shanghainese shows.
Cheers
| Shanghainese | Mandarin | Cantonese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheers! (bottoms up) | 干杯 koe pe | 干杯 gānbēi | 飲勝 jam2 sing3 or 乾杯 gon1 bui1 |
干杯 koe pe means dry the cup, and in a formal toast it is meant literally. Cantonese has a toast of its own, 飲勝 jam2 sing3, literally drink to victory, which Wiktionary marks as the Cantonese, Malaysian and Singaporean word; 乾杯 is used there too.
The bigger difference is the verb. Shanghainese does not use Mandarin’s 喝 hē ‘to drink’ for drinks; it uses 吃 chih, the verb for eating, so to drink tea is 吃茶 chih zo ‘to drink tea’ where Mandarin says 喝茶 hē chá. The drink you are most likely to be toasted with at a family meal is 老酒 lau tsieu ‘yellow rice wine’, the warm amber wine of the region, and what goes with it is on the food words page.
Congratulations
| Shanghainese | Mandarin | Cantonese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Congratulations! | 恭喜 kon shi | 恭喜 gōngxǐ | 恭喜 gung1 hei2 |
| Congratulations! (warmer) | 恭喜恭喜 kon shi kon shi | 恭喜恭喜 gōngxǐ gōngxǐ | 恭喜恭喜 gung1 hei2 gung1 hei2 |
| Happy wedding (to newly-weds) | 新婚快乐 sin huen khua loh | 新婚快乐 xīnhūn kuàilè | 新婚快樂 san1 fan1 faai3 lok6 |
| to get married | 结婚 cih huen | 结婚 jiéhūn | 結婚 git3 fan1 |
恭喜 kon shi on its own is the all-purpose word: for a new job, a new baby, an exam passed. Said twice it is warmer, and it is how people greet each other at a wedding. It is the same 恭喜 that opens the New Year greeting 恭喜发财 kon shi faeh ze, which is on the Chinese New Year page.
Merry Christmas
| Shanghainese | Mandarin | Cantonese | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merry Christmas | 圣诞快乐 sen tae khua loh | 圣诞快乐 shèngdàn kuàilè | 聖誕快樂 sing3 daan3 faai3 lok6 |
| Christmas | 圣诞节 sen tae tsih | 圣诞节 Shèngdànjié | 聖誕節 sing3 daan3 zit3 |
| Christmas Eve | 平安夜 bin oe ya | 平安夜 píng’ānyè | 平安夜 ping4 on1 je6 |
| present, gift | 礼物 li veh | 礼物 lǐwù | 禮物 lai5 mat6 |
Christmas is not a public holiday in mainland China, but in Shanghai it is a shopping and going-out season, and these are the words on the signs. 圣诞 sen tae is the holy birth. Christmas Eve, 平安夜 bin oe ya, is the peaceful night, the Chinese title of Silent Night, and a recent custom of giving wrapped apples that evening, called 平安果 píng’ānguǒ ‘peace fruit’, comes from the pun between 平安 píng’ān ‘peace’ and 苹果 píngguǒ ‘apple’ in Mandarin. How often films in other languages actually say Merry Christmas is counted in Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in other languages.
The one pattern behind most of them
Nearly every celebration wish is an occasion plus 快乐 khua loh ‘happy’. Learn the occasion and the wish builds itself:
| Wish | Shanghainese |
|---|---|
| Happy birthday | 生日快乐 san nyih khua loh |
| Merry Christmas | 圣诞快乐 sen tae khua loh |
| Happy New Year (1 January) | 新年快乐 sin nyie khua loh |
| Happy wedding | 新婚快乐 sin huen khua loh |
| Happy holidays | 节日快乐 tsih nyih khua loh |
Put 祝侬 tsoh non ‘I wish you’ in front of any of them to address it to one person.
How to answer
Thank them: 谢谢侬 zia zia non ‘thank you’. To say how pleased you are, 老开心个 lau khe sin gheh ‘I’m really happy’ uses the same 老 lau ‘very’ that appears all over everyday Shanghainese; 开心 khe sin ‘happy, glad’ is the word for being happy yourself, where 快乐 is the one used in wishes. More ways to say thank you and goodbye are on the hello and thank you page, and the gentler phrases for the people closest to you are on how to say I love you in Shanghainese. Every Shanghainese word here is taught in the free Shanghainese course.
Sources
- Wiktionary: 生日快樂 — Mandarin, Cantonese and Shanghainese readings.
- Wiktionary: 乾杯 — ‘to toast; cheers’, with Shanghainese and Cantonese readings.
- Wiktionary: 飲勝 — Cantonese, Malaysia and Singapore ‘cheers, bottoms up’.
- Wiktionary: 恭喜 — ‘to congratulate; congratulations’, with Shanghainese kon shi.
- Wiktionary: 聖誕節 and 平安夜 — ‘Christmas’ and ‘Christmas Eve’, with Cantonese readings.
- Wikipedia (Chinese): 平安夜 — the name taken from the song 《平安夜》 (Stille Nacht); the 平安果 apples and the 苹/平 pun.
- Wikipedia: Christmas — not a formal public holiday in China, except Hong Kong and Macau.