# congratulations



## yesorno

Hi friends,

please let me know the pronounciation of the Chinese word for 'Congratulations' .  Much appreciated if you can spell in English.

Thanks
yesorno


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## snowyau

In Mandarin it's gong1xi3 (恭喜）, pronounced "goong see", assuming your native language is English. (think of saying "going", but drop the "i", making it one syllable)


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## yesorno

Thank you so much snowyau.

yesorno


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## yuechu

I have a previous roommate who just got his first job and girlfriend. How could I say "Congratulations on getting a job!" and "Congratulations on getting a girlfriend!" in Chinese?
Would 恭喜 and 祝贺 both be ok? (Is there much of a difference between these two words?)

Thanks!


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## Jack12345

恭贺：祝贺;道喜,庆幸。
恭喜：恭贺别人或团体的喜事。
大型的庆典或活动一般用恭贺。
大多数情况，两个词意气差不多，可以互换。
比如：
恭喜发财，恭贺新婚，恭喜（恭贺）高升，恭喜恭喜


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## forgoodorill

IF I were you, I would say:
恭喜兄弟,事業愛情雙豐收了啊！---This is an idiomatic way to say when you get success in both career and relationship with your girlfriend.

If you want to say one part of this, you could say:
恭喜你找到工作了！
As for your friend get a girlfriend, I think you congratulation for getting a girlfriend is weird, because his wife is not some commodities. I think you want to express
1. he is finally not single
Or
2. he is getting in good relationship finally, and this denotes your friend who already in a relationship with that girl, and they finally inform their friends they are a couple, like this. That means, maybe they just cultivate their relationship and see if they are suitable for each other. You know, you need to 'court' that girl, not say: Hi, would you be my girlfriend, then she answer you suddenly.

As for one, you could say:
恭喜兄弟（終於）脫單了
As for two, you could say:
恭喜兄弟終於修成正果了啊

Please note that, *修成正果 also could the couple get married or the girl get pregnant finally.

If you want to understand what's the meaning of 修成正果, please see this:
感情修成正果是什么意思_百度知道


Please note that the sentence I said above just idiomatic ways to express your notion, not translation.*

About the difference between 恭喜 and 祝賀

Actually, they're interchangeable in most conditions, but they still have subtle differences.
1.祝賀 more formal than 恭喜 -----Please notice, I don't say, 祝賀 is formal, *but more formal than 恭喜*
2. 恭喜 has some fixed way to say something,like you could say 恭喜發財， but not 祝賀發財.
    but 祝賀 has little fixed usage. You could just say 祝賀你........

There's a page may be useful for you, but you just need to pay heed to the first difference I said above.
恭喜和祝贺的区别，哪位语言大师帮忙解释一下_百度知道


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## forgoodorill

Jack12345 said:


> 恭贺：祝贺;道喜,庆幸。
> 恭喜：恭贺别人或团体的喜事。


Jack12345, 你好！
yuechu問的是，恭喜和祝賀的區別，不是恭賀和恭喜的區別。
不過你的回答仍然很實用


Jack12345 said:


> 大型的庆典或活动一般用恭贺。
> 大多数情况，两个词意气差不多，可以互换。


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## Jack12345

forgoodorill said:


> yuechu問的是，恭喜和祝賀的區別


Oh, it's a mistake. 
祝贺：庆贺，致送恭贺之意。
Personal feeling, 
这三个词语意上基本一样，使用上略有差别，
比如，
祝贺某某国火星探测成功。
祝贺谁谁谁荣登榜首。（这时，恭喜恭喜好像更热情一些）


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## albert_laosong

Firstly a translation for below two sentences:
Congratulations on getting a job! --> 恭喜你找到工作了！
Congratulations on getting a girlfriend! -->恭喜你有女朋友了！

Then for the difference between the two words (恭喜 and 祝贺), I shall say in certain contexts they are interchangeable, for example the above translations can also be changed to:
Congratulations on getting a job! --> 祝贺你找到工作了！
Congratulations on getting a girlfriend! -->祝贺你有女朋友了！

But if the person I'm congratulating is a close friend, more likely I would choose to use 恭喜, because I feel 恭喜 is more used in situations happening in personal life, like someone is getting married, while 祝贺 is often used in quite formal situations, for example a broadcaster is broadcasting news:
祝贺神州七号飞船成功返航。it would be very strange if she used 恭喜 here. 
Given this distinction in usage, I would perfer to use 恭喜 in those two sentences, while I will feel 祝贺 sounds a little bit distant. Plus the character 喜 also boosts the feel of merriment, I think that's one of the reasons why 恭喜 is more used in settings like marriages. 

Then the third word: 恭贺，I think it's mostly used in very formal public speech, not in conversations.


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your detailed and helpful replies!


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## Broccolee

Congratulations means 恭喜 and 祝贺.
恭喜 and 祝贺 mean exactly the same. The difference is very small. The only difference is 祝贺 is mild and formal.


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## SimonTsai

As far as I can tell, 祝賀 = 祝福 (express good wishes) + 道賀 (express congratulations).


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## yoshiyukiAsakura

imo
现在新一代人更愿意说“祝贺你啊”
恭喜往往与“恭喜发财”等传统文化所绑定
恭贺则包含古代文言文气息，口语中比较少用


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## YangMuye

yoshiyukiAsakura said:


> 现在新一代人更愿意说“祝贺你啊”


I'm sorry to hear that.


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## SimonTsai

Assume that your friend, a chap in this case, asked a beautiful lass that he had been really into for a long time to be his girlfriend last night and then got a yes, and that he phoned you, sharing the news with childish excitement. Then you could say, '很好啊！恭喜！' As for getting a job, you could say exactly the same. You may have noticed that I consistently use '恭喜' as an exclamation. To use it as a verb, as in '恭喜你告白成功' and '恭喜你通過面試', where the subject is implied, is certainly correct, but not my personal preference in speaking, especially in a conversation with friends, where informality may be more appropriate.

'祝賀你啊' sounds odd to my Taiwanese ear. (I am about 22.)


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## yuechu

I was watching a TV show today (小舍得), and someone is saying "祝贺", but it sounds like 贺 is pronounced hé instead of hè. Is 祝贺 ever pronounced differently than the dictionary pronunciation zhùhè in Mandarin?
Thanks!


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## twenty6

No. The only possible pronunciation of 贺 is hè. Of course, it might sound otherwise do to a regional accent, fast/slurred speech, or other noises in the background.


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## yuechu

Maybe it's a regional accent then! (a 北方 accent?)
Thanks, Twenty6!


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## T.D

It's an interesting question! While the difference is hard to tell (by me at least), 祝贺 is more formal than 恭喜 in most circumstances. 

To me,
听说你昨天结婚了，恭喜啊 is good
听说你昨天结婚了，祝贺你啊 is acceptable but weird

祝贺中华人民共和国成立70周年 is good
恭喜中华人民共和国成立70周年 is wrong


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