Congratulations In Spanish: The 5 Easy Ways.

Ling Learn Languages
6 min readFeb 7, 2023

--

Original blog post: https://ling-app.com/es/congratulations-in-spanish/(with audio🔊)

Do you have a Spanish friend that just gave birth to a baby? Got a new job promotion? Or moved into a new house? ¡Felicidades! And I am sure you want to wish them congratulations too in Spanish! Don’t worry because we’ve got you covered! (winks)

In this article, we are going to look at different ways to say congratulations in the Spanish language and popular examples of how to use these congratulatory words in the right context. So, if you have Spanish speakers as friends or you are just an enthusiastic Spanish learner, read on to find out more!

Ways To Say Congratulations In Spanish

A Quick Overview

Before we dive deep into exploring the words and how to say congratulations in Spanish, let’s quickly take a quick overview of all the words we will learn in this article. You should remember that these congratulatory Spanish words may vary depending on Spanish-speaking countries, but not to worry, we will also cover that in this article.

A Deep Dive

Now, let’s take a closer look at each congratulations word and the best context to use them.

Felicidades

The most common word for saying congratulations in Spanish and all Spanish-speaking countries is Felicidades, which means congrats or congratulation. The term can be used for almost any scenario and is often preferred for new Spanish learners. Moreover, it is easy to understand.

Felicidades are usually used to celebrate an event, an anniversary, or a joyful happening in someone’s life, such as a birthday, a baby warming, a new house, and so much more.

What makes Felicidades more versatile is that they can pass for both formal and informal contexts. So, you can say Felicidades in a business or casual meeting.

Examples

  • Felicidades por tu ascenso. — Congratulations on your promotion
  • ¡Felicidades por el nacimiento de tu hijo! — Congratulations on the birth of your son!
  • Felicidades por tu aniversario de bodas. — Congratulations on your wedding anniversary

Muchas Felicidades

Muchas Felicidades means many congratulations or big congratulations, usually used to express your large heart of happiness. You can take it a step further and say Muchas Felicidades instead of Felicidades.

Felicitaciones

Felicitaciones is another popular way of saying congratulations, but it is mainly used in Latin America, while Felicidades is the most preferred congratulatory word in European Spanish. Felicitaciones is excellent for congratulating someone who has achieved something in Latin America but would instead be replaced with Euhorabuena in European Spanish. However, if you find yourself in Latin America, Feliciitaciones is generally accepted.

Enhorabuena

While Enhorabuena and Felicidades may convey the same congratulatory message, Enhorabuena has a distinct use. Enhorabuena is considered more formal and is usually used when congratulating someone on a personal or professional achievement requiring dedicated effort. For example, you should use Enhorabuena when congratulating someone for a promotion, graduation, award-winning, or any other success story that requires dedicated effort. However, Felicidades can also fit into any of these occasions.

So, you shouldn’t use Enhorabuena when celebrating holidays or wishing someone a happy birthday. It is better to stick with Felicidades.

Examples

  • Enhorabuena por el nuevo contrato. — Congratulations on the new contract

Feliz

A great alternative to Felicidades or Enhorabuena is Feliz which means happy or merry. It is just like the English way of saying Happy birthday, happy anniversary, etc., which means Feliz must be used with a noun for it to make sense. Here are some great examples

Examples

  • Feliz año nuevo — Happy New Year
  • Feliz cumpleaños — Happy birthday
  • Feliz navidad — Merry Christmas
  • Feliz aniversario — Happy anniversary
  • Felices fiestas — Happy Holidays
  • Feliz día de gracias — Happy Thanksgiving

Me Da Gustor Por Ti

Me da gustor por ti means I am happy for you, which is another great way to express your happiness. Me da gustor por ti is suitable for both formal and informal situations. It can be used in any context, whether you are congratulating someone on their graduation, new job, or marriage. However, when using Me da gustor por ti, note that it is more suitable if you have a personal relationship with the person.

Bonus: Te Felicito

Te felicito means I congratulate you and can also mean congratulations, depending on the context.

Examples

  • Te felicito por tu nuevo trabajo. — Congratulations on your new job.
  • Te felicito por tu recuperación. — I congratulate you on your recovery.

Other Ways To Say Congratulations

There is no fixed way to say congratulations in Spanish. You can spice things up as you proceed in your Spanish language learning journey. To help you have a new way of congratulating someone, apart from the popular Felicidades, I have listed other popular ways to say congratulations in Spanish. Check it out

Popular Congratulatory Phrases For Different Occasions

Let’s take a closer look at some popular phrases you can easily say when someone is celebrating a special occasion in their lives.

Birthday

Wedding/Anniversary

Felicidades! You Made It To The End!

Yay! You got to the end of the article. I and sure you could pick up one or two Spanish phrases you can use for your next congratulations! You should also be able to say thank you in case you are at the receiving end of the congratulations! Spanish is a beautiful language that doesn’t just stop at congratulations. There are more words you can learn. The Ling App is available if you are interested in learning more Spanish.

Learn More Spanish With The Ling App

The Ling App is a language learning platform with a gamified experience to make learning Spanish fun and enjoyable. It comes with detailed grammar lessons that start from the basic and work up to more complex grammar, interactive quizzes to test your knowledge and detect your weak points, flashcards for retention, exercises, a chatbot to interact and learn how to speak Spanish better, and more resources targeted at moving you from a complete beginner to a fluent speaker.

It even comes with a daily reminder to ensure you stay dedicated to your learning journey. With the Ling App, you can learn Spanish and 60+ languages on the go.

So, what are you waiting for? Download the Ling App today!

--

--

Ling Learn Languages

Ling is a game-like language learning app with a pack of 60+ languages. You will learn languages in fun ways!