How to say happy birthday in Farsi
One phrase covers the card, the cake, and the text message, and a couple of extras make you sound like family.
Happy birthday in Farsi is tavalodet mobarak تولدت مبارک. Literally it means "may your birth be blessed": tavalod is birth, -et is your, and mobarak is blessed. It is the phrase Iranians write in cards, sing at parties, and text with a string of heart emojis.
The polite and formal version
For someone older, a colleague, or anyone you address formally, say tavalodetoon mobarak تولدتون مبارک. The -etoon ending is the respectful "your", the same shift you make everywhere in polite Persian.
The Persian birthday song
The song Iranians sing when the cake arrives is short and easy to join: tavalod, tavalod, tavalodet mobarak تولد تولد تولدت مبارک. It repeats, everyone claps, and knowing even the first line makes you part of the room rather than a guest watching from the side.
Wishes to add after it
A birthday wish rarely stops at one phrase. The classic follow-up is sad sal be in salha صد سال به این سالها, "a hundred years like these", the Persian version of many happy returns. You can also add omret deraz bashe عمرت دراز باشه, may your life be long.
For a text message, tavalodet mobarak azizam (happy birthday, my dear) is warm and natural between friends. Add kheyli doostet daram, I love you a lot, for a partner or close family.
What to say when someone wishes you
If the birthday is yours, reply with mersi or kheyli mamnoon, thank you very much. A very Persian touch is ghorbanet, a warm shortening of "may I be sacrificed for you" that works like "you're too kind".
Birthdays in Iranian culture
Iranian birthday parties look familiar: cake, candles, singing, and gifts. One habit worth knowing is that gifts are often set aside and opened later rather than torn open in front of everyone, and guests may press a gift on the host with a round of polite refusal first. That back and forth is tarof, and it shows up at birthdays as much as anywhere else.
Start with tavalodet mobarak, add sad sal be in salha if you want to impress, and join the song when the cake comes out.