Hello, my birthday was a couple of weeks ago which inspired me to write this post. I love birthdays – there is nothing better than a day of giving or recieving presents, eating cake and just generally being happy!

My birthday in 2016! Holding a big cake and I couldn’t be happier. Own photo.

Germany celebrates birthdays pretty much the same way as in the UK or USA, there is cake, singing and a party. Here is a vocabulary list for you and two songs that you can sing. One is the usual “happy birthday to you” song and the second one is different which I find  has a nicer ring to it.

Vocabulary:

der Geburtstag                                          the birthday (Geburt = birth, Tag = day)
das Geburtstagskind                                the birthday child
Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!                     happy birthday!
Geburtstagswünsch                                  birthday wish
die Familie                                                  the family
die Freunde                                                the friends
die Überraschung                                     the surprise
die Einladungen                                       the invitations
die Ballons                                                 the balloons
das Kuchen                                                the cake
die Kerzen                                                 the candles
die Geburtstagsfeier                                the birthday party
die Geschenke                                          the presents
das Geschenkpapier                                the wrapping paper

Here is the first German birthday song:

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück!
Zum Geburtstag viel Glück!
Zum Geburtstag liebe …….
Zum Geburtstag viel Glück!

English translation:

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear ……
Happy birthday to you!

The next song we always used to sing when someone had their birthday when I was studying in Munich. You can also sing it in canon, which means one group starts singing and once they reach the second line the second group starts singing the first line.

Viel Glück und viel Segen
auf all deinen Wegen,
Gesundheit und Frohsinn
sei auch mit dabei.

English translation:

Good luck and many blessings
on all of your ways
Health and happiness
will also be with you

The song is called “Viel Glück und viel Segen” incase you want to youtube it to hear what it sounds like.

Do you enjoy celebrating birthdays?

Thanks for reading,

Larissa