# Merry Christmas



## Javiergonrol

Hello!!

Could anybody tell how I can say Merry Christmas in Mandarin Chinese? I started learning Chinese last year, I know how to say happy birthday (zhu ni shengri kuai le!), but want to know that useful sentence in this happy times of the year.

Muchas gracias, thanks a lot!!

JavierGonRol​ 
​


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## MingRaymond

Hi,
It is 聖誕快樂 sheng4 dan4 kuai4 le4


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## bongbang

Or in simplified characters:

圣诞节快乐

I think people sometimes add the third character (jie2 "holiday")  in mainland China.


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## MingRaymond

Yes, you can also add 節 jie2 .


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## Javiergonrol

Dear all,
Thank you very much!!
Bye!!


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## maghanish2

Hello all!  I was wondering how one might say 'Merry Christmas' in Mandarain Chinese...I have seen various forms and am a little confused.

I would like the traditional characters please!


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## kenny4528

maghanish2 said:


> Hello all! I was wondering how one might say 'Merry Christmas' in Mandarain Chinese...I have seen various forms and am a little confused.
> 
> I would like the traditional characters please!


 
In my view:
聖誕(節)快樂---most common
耶誕(節)快樂---less common


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## maghanish2

Thank you very much. Is the part in parentheses completely optional or does it give the phrase a different meaing?

And is the less common one referring to Jesus at all?  Thanks again!


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## kenny4528

maghanish2 said:


> Thank you very much. Is the part in parentheses completely optional or does it give the phrase a different meaing?
> 
> And is the less common one referring to Jesus at all? Thanks again!


Yes, 節 is optional. As far as I'm comcerned, they both refer to Jesus.


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## Aquahd

I'll assume you mean Mandarin--Simplified Chinese characters : 圣诞（节）快乐. You can also write it in traditional Chinese characters:聖誕(節)快樂 - which is pronounced the exact same way.


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## maghanish2

Yes, I do mean Mandarin, and thank you very much for the responses!


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## samanthalee

maghanish2 said:


> And is the less common one referring to Jesus at all?



Kenny has already replied that both refers to Jesus. But I'll just like to elaborate.  The more common one (聖誕) refers to _Birth of the Holy Infant_ while the less common one (耶誕) refers to _Birth of Jesus_.


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## kenny4528

samanthalee said:


> Kenny has already replied that both refers to Jesus. But I'll just like to elaborate.  The more common one (聖誕) refers to _Birth of the Holy Infant_ while the less common one (耶誕) refers to _Birth of Jesus_.


 
Thank you for your informative infos. I really don't know about their origin.


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## kareno999

kenny4528 said:


> In my view:
> 聖誕(節)快樂---most common
> 耶誕(節)快樂---less common


Never heard of 耶誕 here in the mainland. 
Is it used in Taiwan or Hongkong?


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## kenny4528

kareno999 said:


> Never heard of 耶誕 here in the mainland.
> Is it used in Taiwan or Hongkong?


 
Yes, it's used here. (less common and used more often in ad, in my opinion)


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## Kwunlam

samanthalee said:


> Kenny has already replied that both refers to Jesus. But I'll just like to elaborate.  The more common one (聖誕) refers to _Birth of the Holy Infant_ while the less common one (耶誕) refers to _Birth of Jesus_.



I have little doubt here. When the Chinese people think of 聖誕 (圣诞, "birth of the Holy (one)"), they won't probably think of 聖嬰 (圣婴, "Holy Infant"). And they would never say 圣嬰誕 (圣婴诞), if I am not wrong. 

*耶*誕 (*耶*诞) does have an connotation of Jesus 耶穌(耶稣). But this is a rather old-fashioned name. 

Nevertheless, some people may still like to use *耶*誕 (*耶*诞)  instead of 聖誕 (圣诞), out of their negative opinion to this religion. They would not like to regard Jesus 耶穌(耶稣) as a Holy one. So they just refer to the birth of Jesus by  *耶*誕 (*耶*诞)  and not by 聖誕 (圣诞).


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## gnihs

kareno999 said:


> Never heard of 耶誕 here in the mainland.
> Is it used in Taiwan or Hongkong?


I heard of 耶誕. But nobody will use this word in Hong Kong.


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## radlader

圣诞节愉快。。。。。。。。


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