How to Say Merry Christmas in German

Merry Christmas in German is Frohe Weihnachten. Its close twin, Fröhliche Weihnachten, means the same and is just as correct. If your family came from Germany, or you still have aunts in Bavaria and cousins in Hamburg, either one is a warm way to open a card. Below: what the words mean, the other greetings Germans use at Christmas and New Year, and examples of how to write them in a card home.

Frohe Weihnachten, word by word

• Froh means glad or happy. Fröhlich means cheerful or merry.
• Weihnachten means Christmas.

Both adjectives end in -e here because, in the set greeting, Weihnachten is treated as a plural. That’s why it’s Frohe Weihnachten and not Frohes Weihnachten. All German nouns take a capital letter, so Weihnachten is always capitalized; at the top of a card, the first word is capitalized too.

Is one more correct than the other? No. The Duden dictionary lists both, along with Schöne Weihnachten (“lovely Christmas”) and Gesegnete Weihnachten (“blessed Christmas”), the last of which suits a religious card.

We don’t write out pronunciations here: English respellings of German sounds tend to mislead. If someone in the family speaks German, let them say it for you.

Other German greetings for Christmas and New Year

Short and friendly

• Frohes Fest: “Happy holidays”, literally “happy feast”. Short and warm, and it fits on any card.
• Besinnliche Feiertage: “peaceful, reflective holidays”. Besinnlich describes the quiet, thoughtful side of the season, the candles rather than the party.

Adding the New Year

• Guten Rutsch: the classic German wish for the turn of the year, often lengthened to Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr. Rutsch literally means a slide; one common explanation traces the phrase to an older sense of the word meaning a trip, so it would first have wished someone a good journey into the new year. It’s casual, the way you’d say it to friends.
• Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch!: “Merry Christmas and a good slide into the new year”. Einen guten Rutsch is simply Guten Rutsch with the article added; the -en endings come from the unspoken “I wish you…” at the start of the sentence.
• Ein glückliches neues Jahr: “a happy new year”, a little more formal. Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr covers both.
• Prosit Neujahr: a greeting for the turn of the year itself; Neujahr is New Year’s Day.

Du, ihr or Sie: who are you writing to?

German has three ways to say “you”, and a card shows which one you’ve chosen:

• dich for one person you’re close to (Ich vermisse dich, “I miss you”),
• euch for several people you’re close to (Ich vermisse euch, “I miss you all”),
• Ihnen for anyone you’d address formally, such as an older neighbor or a former teacher (Wir wünschen Ihnen frohe Weihnachten, “We wish you a merry Christmas”).

For family, dich and euch are right. Use Ihnen only if you’d say Sie to that person face to face.

Opening and signing off

• Liebe Oma, Lieber Opa: “Dear Grandma”, “Dear Grandpa”. Liebe goes with women and with groups (Liebe Kinder, “Dear children”), lieber with men.
• Liebe Grüße: “Love”, literally “loving greetings”. The everyday sign-off for family and friends.
• Herzliche Grüße: “Warm wishes”, a little more formal. Mit herzlichen Grüßen is the same in a fuller form.
• Viele Grüße: “Best wishes”, friendly and neutral.

How to write it in a card: bilingual examples

You don’t need to write the whole card in German. A German greeting at the top, your news in English and a German sign-off at the bottom is plenty. Under each example is what the German means.

1. To a grandmother in Germany

Frohe Weihnachten, liebe Oma! The kids helped me make your cinnamon stars this year. Half of them broke, the other half were perfect.

Liebe Grüße, Anna

German parts: “Merry Christmas, dear Grandma!” and “Love”.

2. To the whole family

Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückliches neues Jahr! We’re lighting the Advent wreath in Milwaukee every Sunday, just like at home.

German part: “Merry Christmas and a happy new year!”

3. To cousins your own age

Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch! Save me a mug of Glühwein at the market. I’m coming in December next year, no excuses.

German part: “Merry Christmas and a good slide into the new year!”

4. A short one to friends

Frohes Fest! Thinking of you all and that long night at the Christmas market.

Viele Grüße, Tom

German parts: “Happy holidays!” and “Best wishes”.

5. When you miss them

Ich vermisse euch. Christmas in Texas is warm and bright, but it isn’t the same without snow on the Black Forest roofs.

Frohe Weihnachten, Lena

German parts: “I miss you all” and “Merry Christmas”.

6. To an older neighbor or a former teacher

Wir wünschen Ihnen frohe Weihnachten und besinnliche Feiertage. Thank you for all your kindness to our mother.

Mit herzlichen Grüßen, the Becker family

German parts: “We wish you a merry Christmas and peaceful holidays” (formal “you”) and “With warm wishes”.

7. A religious card

Gesegnete Weihnachten. May the peace of Christmas be with you and with everyone at home.

German part: “Blessed Christmas”.

When Germans say it

In Germany the most important day of Christmas is Heiligabend, Christmas Eve, on December 24, even though it isn’t an official public holiday. Then come the erster and zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag, the first and second days of Christmas. Depending on the region, presents come from the Weihnachtsmann or from the Christkind, a gift-bringer usually traced back to Martin Luther. Before all that comes Advent, with its wreath of four candles, one lit on each Sunday. Our guide to Christmas customs in Germany covers these in more depth.

Writing to relatives in more than one country? Our Christmas greetings in other languages cover everything from Welsh to Polish.

Checked by a native speaker

The German greetings on this page were checked by a native German speaker before publication.

Cards to carry your Frohe Weihnachten

The cards in our collection from Germany carry their greeting in German, set as text rather than painted in, and your own message goes underneath. Send by email or text, or schedule it to arrive on Christmas Eve.