Guide · Languages
Merry Christmas in Different Languages
A greeting in the language of home can say more than a whole paragraph in English. This page gathers the Christmas and New Year greetings for the seven languages behind our country cards: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, German, Italian, Polish and Swedish. Each one has been checked by a native speaker, and six of them have a full guide of their own, with more phrases, the grammar behind them and examples for a card. Start with the table, then follow the link for the language you need.
Merry Christmas in another language: the greetings
| Language | Merry Christmas | Happy New Year | Guide and cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welsh | Nadolig Llawen | Blwyddyn Newydd Dda | Welsh greetings, Welsh New Year words, cards from Wales |
| Irish | Nollaig Shona Duit (to one person), Nollaig Shona Daoibh (to several) | Athbhliain faoi mhaise duit (to one), daoibh (to several) | Irish greetings, Irish New Year words, cards from Ireland |
| Scottish Gaelic | Nollaig Chridheil | Bliadhna Mhath Ùr | cards from Scotland |
| German | Frohe Weihnachten | Ein glückliches neues Jahr, or Guten Rutsch | German greetings, cards from Germany |
| Italian | Buon Natale | Buon anno | Italian greetings, cards from Italy |
| Polish | Wesołych Świąt | Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku | Polish greetings, cards from Poland |
| Swedish | God jul | Gott nytt år | Swedish greetings, cosy classics for a Swedish card |
We don’t write out pronunciations on this page or in the guides. Spellings in English letters tend to mislead, and every one of these greetings is best learned from someone who speaks the language.
Christmas and New Year in one line
For a card that covers both, each language joins the two greetings with its word for “and”:
- Welsh: Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
- Irish: Nollaig Shona agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh (to several people)
- Scottish Gaelic: Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ùr
- German: Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr
- Italian: Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo
- Polish: Wesołych Świąt oraz Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku
- Swedish: God jul och gott nytt år
A few things the greetings have in common
Most of them say “good” or “happy”, not “merry”. Buon Natale is “good Christmas”, God jul “good Christmas”, Blwyddyn Newydd Dda “year new good”. The closest to the English “merry” are Welsh llawen, Polish wesoły (in Wesołych Świąt) and German fröhlich, in Fröhliche Weihnachten.
Some put the adjective after the noun. Welsh and Irish do: Nadolig Llawen is literally “Christmas joyful”, Nollaig Shona “Christmas happy”.
Some change with the person. Irish has a separate “you” for one person (duit) and for several (daoibh). In Italian, you can add a tutti to wish everyone at once: Buon Natale a tutti!
Accents are part of the spelling. Polish ł, ś and ą, German ö and ü, Swedish å and the Gaelic ù are letters of their own, not decoration. Copy them exactly.
Irish or Scottish Gaelic?
“Merry Christmas in Gaelic” usually means Irish, but it can also mean Scottish Gaelic, a related but separate language. In Ireland the language is called Irish in English and Gaeilge in Irish; in Scotland, Gaelic is Gàidhlig. The Christmas greetings are different too: Nollaig Shona Duit in Irish, Nollaig Chridheil in Scottish Gaelic. If your family comes from the Highlands or the Hebrides, choose the Scottish words; if it comes from Ireland, choose the Irish ones.
Scottish Gaelic doesn’t have a guide of its own, so its greetings appear only on this page, on our Irish page and in our guide to the Hogmanay first-foot. Our Scottish card, the Highland Bothy, carries Nollaig Chridheil as its greeting, beside a stone bothy on the shore of a Highland loch.
How to write a greeting from home in a card
Keep the greeting to one line at the top, and write the rest in English, or in whichever language the reader is most at home in. A few examples, with what each greeting means:
Nadolig Llawen, Mam-gu! The children have been practicing their carols all week, and we’ll sing them to you on the phone on Christmas morning.
Welsh: “Merry Christmas, Grandma!”
Wesołych Świąt from all of us in Chicago. Your parcel came yesterday, and nobody has been allowed to open it yet.
Polish: “Merry Christmas”.
Buon Natale a tutti! We’ll be eating far too much tonight and thinking of all of you in the village.
Italian: “Merry Christmas, everyone!”
God jul och gott nytt år. The children keep asking for the stories you told last winter, so we’re saving them for your call.
Swedish: “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”.
Frohe Weihnachten! Thank you for the Advent calendar. The children opened the first door before breakfast.
German: “Merry Christmas!”
Each language guide has more examples like these, from short lines for a postcard to longer notes for the family.
Checked by native speakers
Every greeting on this page was checked by a native speaker of its language before publication.
Cards from home
Our Christmas cards include collections for Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Italy and Poland, each painted like a winter evening in the old country, and most carry their greeting in the language of the place. You add your own words underneath, in any language you like. For the turn of the year, our New Year cards say Happy New Year in English, with room for a line from home in your message.