Three questions about saying "happy birthday" in Italian...

Factual Questions
1

The Italian phrase for “Happy birthday” is “Buon Compleanno”. Two questions:

1- Are the n’s in Compleanno pronounced like the ñ in Spanish or like the n’s in the English word annual?

2- If saying happy birthday to a lady does the gender change (“Buon Compleanna”) or remain the same?

3- Is there any equivalent to the “Happy birthday to you…” song in Italian?

Thanks for any info. (One of my friends is from Rome [she speaks fluent English, I speak no Italian] and her birthday is this weekend so I wanted to get it right without having to ask her.)

2

the ns in Compleanno are pronounced as the word ‘no’ would be pronounced. kom-plee-ah-no.

There is no feminine equivalent, since it’s -anno (year).

The version of happy birthday I have heard is simply sung to the tune of happy birthday:

Buon compleanno a te
Buon compleanno a te
Buon compleanno <insert name>
Buon compleanno a te.

(a te is pronounced like ah tay).

3

Not quite – kom*-pleh**-ahn-no. *Long o ; **similar to “play”

Hold onto the n a little longer than you would if you’d say ah-no, the way this man says “donna” in this video.

Also, I’ve never heard anyone sing “Buon compleanno a te,” but I could be out of the loop – the traditional birthday song I’m familiar with is “Tanti auguri a te.” (It means “many good wishes to you.”)

Tanti auguri a te
Tanti auguri a te
Tanti auguri, cara/o [person’s name]
Tanti auguri a te

4

I concur with this post.

5

The Italian equivalent to the “ñ” sound is “gn.”

6

Many yeasr ago, I got my first job working in a family owned Italian restaurant, and the staff would gather and sing the Tanti auguri a te version cited in gallows fodder’s post above for our patrons celebrating birthdays. This would be accompanied by a small cake with a candle and a scoop of spumoni ice cream.

7

Thanks to all for your answers. I went with the Tanti auguri a te version and she seemed to very much like it.