おめでとうございます

When to use it

Birthdays, weddings, births, passing an exam, a promotion, New Year. The occasion goes first, with no particle: お誕生日おめでとうございます, ご結婚おめでとうございます, 合格おめでとう, ご出産おめでとうございます. New Year is あけましておめでとうございます, said from 1 January; before that, よいお年を. From めでたい, ‘auspicious’. Casual: おめでとう. The reply is ありがとうございます, often おかげさまで (‘thanks to you’).

Examples

• お誕生日おめでとうございます。（おたんじょうび おめでとう ございます）— Happy birthday.
• 合格おめでとう！（ごうかく おめでとう）— Congratulations on passing!
• あけましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願いします。（あけまして おめでとう ございます。ことし も よろしく おねがい します）— Happy New Year. I look forward to another year with you.

Traps for Spanish, English and French speakers

• ‘Congratulations on your promotion’, ‘félicitations pour ta promotion’, ‘felicidades por tu ascenso’ put the occasion after the word with a preposition. Japanese puts it before, with nothing in between: 昇進おめでとうございます. Learners produce おめでとうございます、昇進に or 昇進のおめでとう.
• ‘Feliz cumpleaños’ and ‘bonne année’ are adjective + noun, so learners look for a Japanese ‘happy’ and write 幸せな誕生日. There is no adjective: every ‘happy X’ is X + おめでとう.
• ‘Bonne année’ and ‘feliz año nuevo’ work before and after 1 January. あけまして means ‘the year having opened’, so the phrase only works from 1 January. In late December say よいお年を.
• Spell the long vowel: おめでとう. English speakers hear ‘omedeto’ and write おめでと, which reads as a clipped ending.