Birthday Vocabulary in Portuguese and the Brazilian Birthday Song

I love celebrating birthdays! I think of a birthday as a special day that brought us into this world, and brought the people we love into our lives. In this Portuguese lesson, you’ll learn how to chat about birthdays in Portuguese, send and receive birthday wishes, and even sing the Brazilian birthday song!

Birthday & Anniversary: Let’s Clear That Up

One thing that often confuses students is the word for birthday in Portuguese:

• aniversário

It looks and sounds like “anniversary,” but it means birthday and anniversary, depending on the context.

The trick is: when it appears by itself, without specifying what’s being celebrated ( like a wedding or an inauguration) , it means birthday.

So if someone asks: Quando é o seu aniversário?, they’re asking when your birthday is.

Now you might be wondering: what if I do want to talk about an anniversary? In that case, we simply specify the event:

• aniversário de casamento = wedding anniversary
• aniversário da cidade = city anniversary / the city’s founding anniversary

Back to birthdays, you can greet your birthday friends in two ways:

• Feliz aniversário = Happy birthday
• Parabéns = Congratulations — Yep, we congratulate people on their special day. I love that! 😊

Asking someone’s age

Listen, I’m not telling you to go around asking people’s age, okay? We don’t do that, and you might get in trouble if you try 😅

But hey, if the situation calls for it, here’s how we do it in Portuguese:

• Quantos anos você tem? = How old are you?

Literally, our question is “How many years do you have?”

Here is how you answer:

• Eu tenho 25 anos. = I am 25 years old.

Literally, that translates to “I have 25 years”.

Talking About Turning a Certain Age

Now here’s something that always surprises learners:

When we talk about turning a certain age, like “I’m going to be 30” or “She just turned 5”, we use the verb fazer in Portuguese!

Yep, it’s one of those expressions that doesn’t translate word for word. There are plenty of those, especially with the verbs dar and fazer. That’s why I created a whole set of Portuguese Builder Flashcards to help you learn them naturally while practicing present and past tense conjugations of these two irregular verbs.

Here are a couple of examples:

• Meu filho vai fazer 5 anos semana que vem. = My son is turning 5 next week.
• Eu fiz 30 anos no mês passado. = I turned 30 last month.

Simple, right? Now you’re one step closer to sounding more natural in Portuguese 💚

Handy Phrases to talk about Birthdays in Portuguese

Here are some handy phrases you can use to talk about birthdays in Portuguese:

• Quando é seu aniversário? = When is your birthday?
• Meu aniversário é em setembro. = My birthday is in September.
• Meu aniversário é no dia 18 de setembro. = My birthday is on September 18th.
• Eu faço aniversário em setembro. = I have my birthday in September.
• Mariana vai fazer 14 anos. = Mariana will be 14 years old.
• Seu aniversário está perto. = Your birthday is close.
• Seu aniversário está chegando. = Your birthday is coming up.
• Você gosta de comemorar seu aniversário? = Do you like to celebrate your birthday?
• Você vai fazer festa? = Are you going to throw a party?
• Qual  é seu signo? = What is your star sign?

The Brazilian Birthday song

Brazilians sing Happy Birthday with lots of energy! It’s clearly a festive, joyful moment. We sing loudly, clap our hands, cheer, whistle… That’s right, we know how to make noise 🥳

Below is the Brazilian birthday song. I actually sing it in the video — and no, I can’t sing, but I did it anyway for your Portuguese :)

At the end of the song, we often add a fun chant to keep the energy going. For example, let’s say it’s Mariana’s birthday. After the song, the group might chant:

É pique, é pique
É pique, é pique, é pique
É hora, é hora
É hora, é hora, é hora
Rá Tim Bum
Mariana, Mariana, Mariana

Let’s see if I can explain what this means:

• Pique = high energy, peak excitement
• É hora = it is time
• Rá Tim Bum = a playful sound, like a drumroll or burst of celebration

Now, let me tell you… depending on the crowd you’re celebrating with, this part can get a little spicy 😄 Just roll with it and enjoy the moment!

Ready to sing along? Let’s celebrate! 🎉

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