How to say happy birthday in Burmese
မွေးနေ့မှာ ပျော်ရွှင်ပါစေ
Say it like this: MWAY-nay HMAH PYAW-shwin bah-ZAY
To say happy birthday in Burmese, you say "မွေးနေ့မှာ ပျော်ရွှင်ပါစေ". It is a kind wish that works for anyone in Myanmar, young or old. Below you will find how to say it, other friendly ways to send your wishes, and a little about how birthdays are marked.
"Mway nay" means birthday (the day you were born). "Hmah" means on, and "pyaw shwin bah zay" means may you be happy. So it means "may you be happy on your birthday".
Other ways to say happy birthday in Burmese
- မွေးနေ့ မင်္ဂလာပါ (mway nay min-ga-lar-bah)Say it like this: MWAY-nay min-gah-LAH-bahMeans "blessed birthday". Very common, warm and fine for anyone.
- ပျော်ရွှင်စရာ မွေးနေ့ ဖြစ်ပါစေSay it like this: PYAW-shwin-zah-YAH MWAY-nay pyit-bah-ZAYMeans "may it be a happy birthday". Nice in a card or message.
- ကျန်းမာပါစေSay it like this: CHAN-mah bah-ZAYMeans "may you be healthy". People often add it after the birthday wish.
- အသက်ရှည်ပါစေSay it like this: ah-THET SHAY bah-ZAYMeans "may you live long". A lovely wish for parents and older people.
- ဆုတောင်းပေးပါတယ်Say it like this: HSOO-downg PAY-bah-dehMeans "I am wishing good things for you". A warm closing line in a message.
The Happy Birthday song in Burmese
Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear [name],
happy birthday to you.
In Myanmar, most people sing the English Happy Birthday song at parties. There is no single Burmese version that everyone knows, so the English one is the safe choice.
Birthday customs
- In Myanmar, the day of the week you were born on matters a lot. Burmese astrology uses eight weekdays (Wednesday is split into morning and afternoon), and each has its own planet and animal.
- Many people mark their birthday by doing good deeds, such as offering food to monks or visiting a pagoda to pray.
- At a pagoda such as the Shwedagon in Yangon, people go to the corner for the weekday they were born on. There they pour water over the Buddha image to bring good luck.
A quick tip
Burmese uses its own round script, so if you send the wish in writing, copy and paste it rather than typing it by hand. If you do not have Burmese on your phone, the English sound-out still shows you care.
Questions people ask
What is the most common way to say happy birthday in Burmese?
"မွေးနေ့မှာ ပျော်ရွှင်ပါစေ" and "မွေးနေ့ မင်္ဂလာပါ" are both very common. Either is a lovely choice.
Do people in Myanmar say happy birthday in English?
Yes, especially young people and on social media. Saying it in Burmese is extra thoughtful though.
What do you say back?
Say "ကျေးဇူးတင်ပါတယ်" (chay-ZOO tin-bah-DEH), which means thank you.
Wish someone happy birthday in Burmese
Type their name, and we will turn it into a birthday surprise in Burmese: a gift box to open, confetti, their name in gold and the birthday song. Then send it by WhatsApp, text or email. It is free.