Yajie: Perfect Chinese your way, in only five minutes a day. Welcome to Chinese Studio. I’m Yajie.
Cam: Hi, everyone, I’m Cam. Yajie, have you bought a present yet for Louis? It’s his birthday tomorrow.
Yajie: No, not yet!
Cam: I got him something… but I need to learn how to say Happy Birthday in Chinese when I see him tomorrow.
Yajie: I’ll teach you. Today we can learn some expression of congratulations when somebody is celebrating a birthday. Let’s check Key Words of the Day.
************Key words of the day
Today we’ll expressions of congratulating someone when he/she is celebrating a birthday. 祝你生日快乐！Happy Birthday! 祝你生活幸福美满！祝你身体健康！ All in today’s Chinese Studio.
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Cam: In English we say happy birthday when attending a birthday party. How to say this in Chinese?
Yajie: We say “祝你生日快乐！”
Cam: 祝你生日快乐!
Yajie: Right. “祝你生日快乐！” Is how we would wish somebody a happy birthday. 祝你 is used to express good wishes, sometimes with the implication of “congratulating in advance”. 祝, zhù, the forth tone. It means offering good wishes. 你, means you. 祝你 together means I wish you….
Cam: 祝你 (zhù nǐ).
Yajie: 生日 is birthday. 生, shēng, the first tone. 生, to give birth to.
Cam: 生 (shēng). 日 (rì), we learned it during last week. It means the day, the forth tone. 日(rì). And 星期日(Xīngqī rì) is Sunday.
Yajie: Absolutely right! Well, Cam, you have a sound memory.
Cam: Xie xie.
Yajie: 快乐 means happy. 快, k-u-a-i, kuài, the fourth tone. 乐, l-e, lè, also the fourth tone. Together it’s快乐(kuài lè).
Cam: 快乐(kuài lè). 我很快乐 (wǒ hěn kuài lè)。I’m very happy. 你快乐吗？(nǐ kuài lèma?)
Yajie: 我也很快乐 (wǒ yě hěn kuài lè)。I’m happy too.
Yajie: Cam, how do you think you would respond if somebody said zhu ni sheng ri kuai le?
Cam: Could I say: xie xie?
Yajie: Yes, that’s right. Sometimes people just say 生日快乐 for short.
Cam: Ok, this sounds reasonable, because 祝你 means wishing you…. In English, we say Happy Birthday for short instead of Happy Birthday to you. When wishing somebody a happy birthday, it’s not necessary to specify the person. So it’s the same as Chinese. There is no need to say祝你(zhù nǐ).
Yajie: You got it. Besides生日快乐, there are other relevant expressions. For example, you can say祝你身体健康 which means “I wish you good health” 身体is body. 身, s-h-e-n, shēn, the first tone; 体, t-i, tǐ, the third tone.
Cam: 身体, shēn tǐ.
Yajie: And 健康 means fine, or healthy. 健, jiàn, the forth tone; 康, k-a-ng-, kāng, the first tone.
Cam: 健康 (jiànkāng).
Yajie: Together you can say祝你身体健康(zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng).
Cam: 祝你身体健康(zhù nǐ shēntǐ jiànkāng).
Today we’ve learned three different expressions to wish someone a happy birthday 祝你生日快乐！Happy Birthday! 祝你身体健康！I wish you good health!
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Yajie: If an senior person is having a birthday, you could say: 祝您健康长寿！
Cam: 祝您健康长寿！(zhù nín jiànkāng chángshòu!)
Yajie: Yes, 长寿 means longevity. I wish you good health and a long life. 祝您健康长寿！You can say this to your grandparents!
Cam: 祝您健康长寿！(zhù nín jiànkāng chángshòu!) You can also say this if somebody is not having a party, right?
Yajie: Yes, very good! Well, class is over for this time. Don’t forget you can win a gift by answering the question of the day in Chinese: what will you say to a Chinese friend on his/her birthday?
