Have you learned about Indonesian months and days as well as Indonesian days of the week? Can you mention your birthday and date in using Indonesian language? One of these days. it’s probably the birthday of someone you know! Let’s learn more about Indonesian birthday greetings.
Birthdays are an important part of everyone’s life. You’ll most likely wish your closest friends or colleagues a happy birthday, and in Indonesia we have many different ways to wish someone a happy birthday. Make sure you master some of the Indonesian ways to say “happy birthday”!
- Happy Birthday – Selamat ulang tahun
- Happy Birthday – Dirgahayu
This word is more formal than “selamat ulang tahun”, it can be used not just for a person, for example, it can be used to celebrate a country’s annual independence day. In Indonesia, our Independence Day is on the 17th of August, so it is normal if you come across phrases like Dirgahayu Indonesia on that day. It basically has the same meaning as the typical selamat ulang tahun.
- Congratulations – Selamat
Selamat is for more general wishes, so you need to add more Indonesian words in order to make it a complete wish. For example, selamat memasuki umur baru means congratulations on walking into a new age.
- Make a wish – Buat sebuah permohonan
- Surprise!!! – Kejutan!!!
- Blow the candles – Tiup lilinnya
Blowing candles is actually a pretty big deal for Indonesians. Our typical birthday song also has the lyric “tiup lilinnya” as it is common for Indonesians to bring a cake to the birthday celebrant and ask them to make a wish then blow the candles as a symbolic ritual.
Here are more Indonesian birthday greetings:
- Have a long life – Semoga panjang umur
- Stay healthy – Sehat selalu
- Slice the cake – Potong kuenya
- Stay prosperous – Semoga tetap makmur
- Stay young – Semoga awet muda
- Stay successful – Sukses selalu
- May your wishes come true – Semoga permohonanmu dikabulkan
- Semoga semakin… – May you be more…
Semoga is a widely used word for birthday wishes in Indonesian. It represents that you’re hoping or praying for a particular thing to happen to a person. Semakin means more, so you can add adjectives like cantik (beautiful), pintar (smart), diberkati (blessed), or any other adjectives as your wishes to the birthday celebrant.
These wishes are quite various so you just need to know the proper time and place to use them. For example, if an elder is having a birthday it would be a good idea to use the phrase sehat selalu or semoga panjang umur. If a colleague is celebrating instead, the phrase sukses selalu or semoga tetap makmur will of course be more proper. To learn more about phrases in Indonesian conversations, you can also check out:
- How to say I’m fine in Indonesian
- How to say Have Great Day in Indonesian
- How to say Take Care in Indonesian