Translating Spanish for Happy Birthday

Birthday cake. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
A friend who helped me with Spanish sent me a happy birthday greeting on Facebook. I replied thank you.

He answered: Why not in Spanish?

I looked up some translations. My first thought was: 'If I must, I must.'

This is a misquotation from a Saki story where a lady is met getting off a train and told: 'You must be the new governess.'
She replies: If I must, I must.
If I remember it rightly, she then creates havoc in the family, encouraging children to re-enact battles and break furniture.

The punchline is that they get rid of her and put her on the train back to London. Then, off the train steps the real govenress with apologies for being late and hoping they were not too invonvenienced.

The memorable line is the opening paragraph, her reply, 'If I must, I must. She uses must in two senses. In the first, 'you must' means I presume that you are. In the second, 'I must' means, if you insist, I will do it.

Now, back to the Spanish. I asked my friend if he thought in Spanish, whole phrases and sentences, or thought in English and translated each word.

I went into Google translate and translated phrases I thought I would find useful. I then forwarded the translations to a Spanish friend of mine to see if she approved the translations and had anything to add.

English
Happy birthday.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
That's very kind of you.
The same to you.
Happy anniversary.
Good luck.
Many happy returns.
Happy Christmas.
Happy Easter.
What would you like for your birthday.
No presents, please?
Do you like surprises?
No, I don't.
Yes, I do.
Surprise me.
What a lovely card.
It's just what I wanted.
It's my / your birthday cake.
Have a piece.
Help yourself.

Spanish

Feliz cumpleaños.
Gracias por teu felic.
Muchas gracias.
Es muy amable por tu parte.
Lo mismo para ti.
Feliz aniversario.
Buena suerte.
Muchas vueltas felices.
Feliz Navidad.
Felices Pascuas.
Qué te gustaría para tu cumpleaños.
Sin regalos, por favor?
¿Te gustan las sorpresas?
No, yo no.
Si, lo hago.
Sorpréndeme.
Qué tarjeta tan adorable.
Es justo lo que quería.
Es mi / tu pastel de cumpleaños.
Tener una pieza
Ayudar a sí mismo.

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.