Word
Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Du hast Glück.
Meaning
Congratulations! You are lucky.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Du hast Glück.
du
you (informal singular)
haben
to have
das Glück
the luck
Herzlichen Glückwunsch
congratulations
Questions & Answers about Herzlichen Glückwunsch! Du hast Glück.
Why does the German sentence say Du hast Glück instead of using the verb "to be"?
In English we say "You are lucky" using an adjective, but German uses the verb haben (to have) plus the noun Glück (luck). You are literally saying "You have luck". German does this often with physical or mental states; for example, Ich habe Hunger literally means "I have hunger" instead of "I am hungry".
What does Herzlichen Glückwunsch literally mean?
It translates literally to "heartfelt congratulation". The word herzlichen comes from Herz, which means heart.
How is the word Glückwunsch built?
It is a compound noun made of two words. The first part is Glück (which you see in the second sentence meaning luck or happiness) and the second part is Wunsch (wish). So a congratulation in German is literally a "luck wish" or "happiness wish".
Why is there an -en ending on Herzlichen?
This everyday phrase is actually a shortened version of a full sentence, like Ich wünsche dir einen herzlichen Glückwunsch (I wish you a heartfelt congratulation). Because the congratulation is the direct object receiving the action of being wished, it takes the accusative case. For a masculine noun like Glückwunsch, the describing adjective gets that -en ending in this case.