Is your Italian friend getting ready to celebrate a birthday? Then you may want to serenade him or her on the big day with the Happy Birthday song in Italian!
The Italian version of this song is called Tanti Auguri a Te, which literally translates as Many Wishes to You. Tanti auguri! is one of two expressions used to wish someone a Happy Birthday, with the other being Buon Compleanno!
The tune is identical to the English version and the lyrics are more or less a direct translation. Check out the YouTube video below to hear it sung by a native Italian!
Version 1
Tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a [person’s name]
tanti auguri a te
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to [person’s name]
Happy birthday to you
Version 2
Tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri felici
tanti auguri a te
*felici means happy
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Many happy wishes
Happy birthday to you
Version 3
Tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a te
tanti giorni felici
tanti auguri a te
*giorni means days
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Many happy days
Happy birthday to you
Version 4
Tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri caro / cara [person’s name]
tanti auguri a te
*caro / cara means dear (caro is masculine, cara is feminine)
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear [person’s name]
Happy birthday to you
Version 5
Tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a te
tanti auguri a [person’s name]
E la torta a me!
*E la torta a me means And the cake (is) for me!
Heather Broster is a graduate with honours in linguistics from the University of Western Ontario. She is an aspiring polyglot, proficient in English and Italian, as well as Japanese, Welsh, and French to varying degrees of fluency. Originally from Toronto, Heather has resided in various countries, notably Italy for a period of six years. Her primary focus lies in the fields of language acquisition, education, and bilingual instruction.
