20 Different Ways To Wish Happy Birthday Happy Anniversary Alternative English Phrases
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- Hello, everyone, and welcome
back to English with Lucy.
Today, I am going
to teach you better alternative ways
of wishing people happy birthday,
and happy anniversary.
To further improve your
learning experience,
I have also created a free PDF worksheet
that goes with this lesson.
It’s got everything we’re
going to discuss today,
plus a quiz, and I know
you all love quizzes.
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just click on the link
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Right, let’s get started with the lesson.
Let’s start with happy birthday.
Okay, this is a very common phrase,
and we tend to repeat the same thing
over and over again.
But today, I’m going to show you 14
interesting, witty, and funny ways
of wishing somebody a happy birthday.
Now the first one is mainly used jokingly,
via text message.
Sometimes if we want to wish somebody
a happy birthday,
but we don’t want to act
like we’re putting in too much effort,
we just say HB.
HB, and everybody knows what it means.
In these big WhatsApp groups we have now,
it’s very common
in the UK to just have a page full of HB.
It’s quite funny.
Some people consider it rude,
but I think as long as the receiver knows
that you’re joking, it’s nice.
We have number two,
which is commonly found
inside birthday cards.
It is many happy returns.
Many happy returns.
Now, when I was a child,
I never understood this phrase
when I saw it on birthday cards.
But it means many happy
returns of the day.
As in, I hope you have
many more birthdays.
I hope you live a long life.
So many happy returns is a very nice one.
It’s slightly more formal.
Number three is have a great one.
Have a great one.
This one is very informal.
Sometimes we use the word one in place
of something that is already known
to the listener.
Have a great one,
they know that I’m talking
about their birthday.
Have a great day,
have a great birthday, have a great one.
In number four,
we have an alternative
phrase for birthday.
It is special day.
On your birthday, on your special day.
You more or less know
that if it’s somebody’s special day,
it’s their birthday.
Unless it’s their wedding,
or another celebration like that.
So you could say,
I wish you the best on your special day.
Number five is slightly fancier.
It is wishing you a day
that is as special as you are. (laughing)
So fancy.
Wishing you a day that
is as special as you are.
Now it should be,
I am wishing, or we are wishing,
but sometimes we just shorten it down
to wishing you were here,
I am wishing you were here,
wishing you a great day.
We’re wishing you a great day.
Another alternative, wishing you
many more candles to blow.
When we have a birthday,
we blow out a certain number
of candles on our cake.
So we’re implying that
we hope the person lives
for a long time.
This tends to be a theme.
A really nice alternative way
of just saying happy birthday.
So much more interesting,
wishing you many more candles to blow.
Number seven is a funny one.
It is happy 21st.
Happy 21st birthday.
Now why do we use 21st in particular?
If somebody is quite a lot older
than 21, often we’ll say, happy 21st,
pretending that we don’t think
they look any older than 21 years old.
I wonder if you have this
in your own language,
and if it’s the same number, 21,
or if it’s a different number.
Is there a dream age
at which everyone wants to remain?
Number eight is a really nice one.
May your day be filled
with laughter and presents.
Obviously the most important
thing about birthdays,
apart from the cake, presents.
I get so excited about giving
and receiving presents. (chuckling)
Number nine, this is
something that you can say
to people who really like beer.
Happy beer day, happy beer day! (laughing)
‘Cause a birthday is a fantastic excuse
to drink far more beer than usual.
Number 10 is a funny one.
It is, hmm, didn’t we celebrate this
just a year ago? (laughing)
Terrible!
I love it though.
I really like number 11, it is,
congratulations, you survived another trip
around the sun.
‘Cause obviously we go round
the sun every 365 days.
I don’t think I need
to explain that to you,
I think I’m underestimating
your intelligence.
(laughing)
But now you know what it means.
Number 12 is possibly my favourite.
In fact, it is my favourite.
It is happy womb eviction day. (chuckling)
So obviously, the womb is where you lived
before you were born,
and you were evicted on
your birthday. (laughing)
Number 13 is a lovely compliment.
It’s a nice way
of telling somebody that they are older.
You have to say, you’re
ageing like a fine wine.
‘Cause obviously fine
wines get better with age.
So if you’re ageing like a fine wine,
you’re ageing beautifully,
you’re getting better with age.
And let’s end this section
on a really cute one.
It is, don’t count the candles,
just enjoy the glow. (chuckling)
I really like that.
Don’t worry about how old you are,
just enjoy the celebration.
Right, let’s move on to wishing people
a happy anniversary.
I’ve split this into two sections.
The first is wishing happy anniversary
to another couple.
And the second section
is wishing a happy
anniversary to your partner.
So much more romantic
in the second section.
Number one, the first one that you’ll wish
to another couple is,
wishing a perfect pair
a perfect day together.
If two people are a perfect pair,
it means they were made for each other,
they are perfect together.
Number two is a lovely one.
It can be said as a toast, cheers.
You can also say it to
your romantic partner.
It is here’s to another year
of being great together.
Of you two being great together.
Number three is another year,
another reason to celebrate.
I’ve explained this a lot
on my vlogging channel,
but my family like to celebrate
anything, (chuckling) anything.
On Valentine’s day, my
mother decorates the house,
and makes heart shaped biscuits.
On Halloween, we had
cobwebs all over the house,
and she dressed up as a
witch, normally. (laughing)
So we love reasons to celebrate,
and an anniversary
is definitely a reason to celebrate.
Another year, another reason to celebrate.
Number four is so, so cute.
It’s, I always knew
you two had something special.
So if you have some friends
that have always had a
wonderful relationship,
you can say this to them.
I always knew you two
had something special.
Had a special chemistry
or a special spark together.
And number five, the
last one that you can say
to another couple is,
love and cheer to one of
our favourite couples.
If that’s coming from just you,
to one of my favourite couples.
It’s a big honour to be told
that you’re one of
someone’s favourite couples.
And finally, we have
five more romantic ways
to wish your partner a happy anniversary.
The first one is lovely.
It is I love you more and more every year.
My love just grows for you.
I love you more and more every year.
Number two is a very common one,
but it’s actually one
that I find really annoying.
(chuckling) And I’ll explain why.
It is thanks for putting up with me
for another year.
Now, why does this annoy me?
Well, to put up with someone
is to tolerate, or endure someone.
So this is jokingly saying,
thank you for tolerating me,
or thank you for enduring
me for another year.
I just don’t think it’s very nice,
I don’t think we should
just tolerate each other,
we should adore each other! (laughing)
I’m just joking.
I know it’s a joke.
I just, yes,
it’s not something I’ll be putting
in my anniversary card to Will.
Number three is here’s to five years
and 5 million memories.
So you can replace the number as you wish.
Here’s to 10 years, but
10 million memories.
That’s really, really nice.
‘Cause it’s not about
how long you’ve been together,
it’s about the things
you’ve done together,
and the memories you’ve made.
Number four, a really common phrase
in anniversary cards,
and messages to each other is,
I can’t believe it’s
been four years already.
I can’t believe it’s
been 20 years already.
Time flies when you’re having fun.
Unless you’re just
putting up with someone.
Sorry, I need to let that go. (laughing)
Okay.
The last one, number five,
is quite an interesting one.
It is happy ruby anniversary,
happy gold anniversary,
happy paper anniversary.
What am I talking about?
Well, for each year you’re together,
there is an anniversary name.
And some people give gifts
corresponding to this name.
So your first anniversary
is your paper anniversary.
So someone might write a love letter.
Second is cotton, third is leather.
And it goes all the way up to number 10,
which is tin.
Then you have 20, which is platinum,
silver, which is 25th,
ruby, which is the 40th, gold,
which is 50th, and diamond, which is 60th.
My grandparents made it
to their 60th diamond anniversary.
And if you make it to 60 years of marriage
in the UK, then you can apply
for the queen to write you
a letter or card of congratulations.
And they did receive that card.
She will also write you a letter
if you reach 100 years of age.
So that’s a really nice thing
to look forward to. (chuckling)
Right, that’s it for today’s lesson.
I hope you enjoyed it,
and I hope you learnt something.
Don’t forget to complete the quiz.
I’ve got everything we’ve spoken
about today on the PDF worksheet,
as well as a quiz.
If you’d like to download it for free,
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I will see you soon for another lesson.
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