‘Happy New Year’ in European languages

by Jakub Marian

Tip: See my list of the Most Common Mistakes in English. It will teach you how to avoid mis­takes with com­mas, pre­pos­i­tions, ir­reg­u­lar verbs, and much more.

Today’s map shows how to wish a Happy New Year in various European languages. The map is similar to my previous map about “Merry Christmas”.

The colouring shows etymological relations among the translations of the word “year” and does not always correspond to language families. For example, even though Polish and Russian are both Slavic languages, they are coloured differently because the corresponding translations of the word “year” are not based on the same root.

Happy New Year in European languages
Do you like the map? Show your support by sharing it.Sharing with attribution helps me create more maps.

It should be noted that the German phrase “Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr” is only used before New Year (such as on New Year’s Eve), and “Frohes neues Jahr” (and similar) are typically used on New Year and later.

Here are the same phrases as above in text form so that you can copy-paste them:

Albanian: Gëzuar Vitin e Ri
Basque: Urte berri on
Belarusian: З Новым годам
Breton: Bloavezh mat
Bulgarian: Честита Нова Година
Catalan: Feliç/Bon any (nou)
Croatian: Sretna Nova godina
Czech: Šťastný nový rok
Danish Godt nytår
Dutch: Gelukkig Nieuwjaar
English: Happy New Year
Estonian: Head uut aastat
Finnish: Hyvää uutta vuotta or Onnellista uutta vuotta
Frisian (West): Lokkich Nijjier
French: bonne année
Galician: Feliz aninovo
German: Schönes/Frohes/Gutes neues Jahr; Guten Rutsch (ins neue Jahr)
Greek: Καλή χρονιά
Hungarian: Boldog új évet
Icelandic: Farsælt or gleðilegt followed by komandi or nýtt ár
Irish: Athbhliain faoi Mhaise Duit
Italian: Felice anno nuovo or Buon anno
Latvian: Laimīgu jauno gadu
Lithuanian: Laimingų naujųjų metų
Luxembourgish: Glécklecht neit Joer or Alles Guddes am neie Joer
Macedonian: Среќна Нова Година
Maltese: Is-Sena t-Tajba
Norwegian: Godt nytt år
Romanian: Un An Nou fericit or La mulți ani (general phrase)
Occitan: Bonna annada
Polish: Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku
Portuguese: Feliz ano novo
Russian: С Новым годом
Sami (Northern): Buore ođđajagi
Sami (Southern): Buerie orrejaepie
Sami (Lule): Buorre ådåjahke
Sardinian: Bon’annu nou
Scottish Gaelic: Bliadhna mhath ùr
Serbian: Srećna Nova godina or Срећна Нова година
Slovak: Šťastný nový rok
Slovene: Srečno novo leto
Spanish: Feliz Año Nuevo or Próspero Año Nuevo after Feliz Navidad
Swedish: Gott nytt år
Turkish: Mutlu yıllar
Ukrainian: З Новим роком
Welsh: Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

By the way, I have written several educational ebooks. If you get a copy, you can learn new things and support this website at the same time—why don’t you check them out?

0