¡Felicidades!

In standard Spain Spanish, it is pronounced approximately:

feh-lee-thee-DAH-thes

A more accurate pronunciation is:

/fe.li.θiˈða.ðes/

A few useful points:

• ce in Spain is usually pronounced like th in thin
• the stressed syllable is da
• the d sounds are usually softer than in English

If you are not aiming for a Spain accent, many Spanish speakers elsewhere pronounce it more like:

feh-lee-see-DAH-des

Spanish normally uses two exclamation marks:

• an opening one: ¡
• a closing one: !

So ¡Felicidades! is the standard written form.

This helps show from the beginning that the sentence is exclamatory. In informal texting, some people may leave out the opening mark, but in correct writing, especially in Spain, you should include both.

Even though English often uses the singular congratulations only as a fixed plural-looking word, Spanish uses felicidades in the plural too.

It is just the normal expression. You do not usually say felicidad to mean congratulations.

So:

• ¡Felicidades! = natural
• ¡Felicidad! = not used this way

No. Felicidades has no written accent mark.

Why not?

• It ends in s
• words ending in a vowel, n, or s normally have stress on the second-to-last syllable
• that is exactly what happens here: fe-li-ci-DA-des

So the natural stress pattern already matches the spelling rules, and no accent mark is needed.

It is neutral and works in both formal and informal situations.

You can say it:

• to a friend
• to a coworker
• to a family member
• in a card
• in a message
• in many polite social situations

It is a safe, common expression.

Yes, you can absolutely use it by itself.

That is very common. For example:

• someone says they passed an exam
• someone announces a birthday, wedding, or baby
• you simply reply: ¡Felicidades!

You can also expand it if you want:

• ¡Muchas felicidades!
• ¡Felicidades por tu nuevo trabajo!
• ¡Felicidades por el ascenso!

In Spain, both are used for congratulations, but ¡Enhorabuena! is often especially common in everyday speech.

A simple way to think about it:

• ¡Felicidades! = congratulations / best wishes, often used for birthdays and celebrations too
• ¡Enhorabuena! = congratulations on an achievement or good news

In real life, there is overlap. For example:

• birthday: ¡Felicidades! is very common
• passing an exam: ¡Enhorabuena! and ¡Felicidades! both work

If you are learning Spain Spanish, it is very useful to know both.

In most of Spain, yes.

Before e or i, the letter c is usually pronounced /θ/, like th in think:

• feli-ci-dades → fe-li-thi-dades

But not everywhere:

• in most of Latin America, it sounds like s
• in some parts of southern Spain and other regions, pronunciation can vary

So for Spain Spanish, th is the standard pronunciation to learn.

Both are natural.

• ¡Felicidades! = short, simple, very common
• ¡Muchas felicidades! = a little warmer or more emphatic

You might choose muchas felicidades in messages, cards, or when you want to sound a bit more enthusiastic.

Yes. In Spain, ¡Felicidades! is very commonly used for birthdays.

For a birthday, you may hear:

• ¡Felicidades!
• ¡Muchas felicidades!
• ¡Feliz cumpleaños!

All are correct. ¡Felicidades! is a very normal thing to say to someone on their birthday in Spain.