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Happy birthday in Persian for kids: the words, the song, and how to say them

To say happy birthday to a child in Persian, say tavallodet mobārak (تولدت مبارک). At the party, the family sings the song that opens tavallod tavallod tavallodet mobārak while the child blows out the candles on the cake. You say that phrase, you write it on the card, and it is the first line of the song. The song also carries the other wish you will hear at every Iranian birthday, sad sāl zendeh bāshi: may you live a hundred years. Below are the words with how to say them, and where the song comes from, checked in at least three independent sources. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

The words to say

Tavallodet mobārak is what you say on the birthday and what you write on the card. The -et ending means "your", addressed to one person you are close to, which is how you speak to a child.

Sad sāl zendeh bāshi is the long-life wish. It turns up in the birthday song and in the short verses families write to children on their birthday. A child who hears it every year picks it up without anyone teaching it.

The birthday song

The song most Iranian families sing at a birthday is called Tavallodet Mobārak. It has a known composer, Anoushiravan Rohani, and three of the sources we read say it was first written for a birthday celebration of the Peykan, the Iranian car. It was written in 1349 of the Iranian calendar (1970). Because the song has a known author, we describe it here instead of printing it.

It opens with the line in the table above, تولد تولد تولدت مبارک, repeats the blessing, and then calls the birthday child to blow out the candles and live a hundred years. The tune is short and easy, so a two-year-old can join in on mobārak long before they can sing the rest. If you don't remember all of it, sing the opening line twice. Nobody at a Persian birthday will notice.

How families celebrate a child's birthday

• Cake and candles. There is a birthday cake with candles. The family sings while they are lit, and the child blows them out when the song gets to the candles.
• The song is the centre. The children's birthday verses we read, and the people who answer language questions online, all put the song at the heart of the party. One news site writes that almost every Iranian has a memory of it from a birthday.

Much of the rest, from the size of the party to the presents, depends on the family, and the sources we read do not describe one single way. Do it your way, and keep the song and the two phrases.

When the family is far away

1. Teach the one phrase first. A child who can say tavallodet mobārak can say it back to a grandparent on the grandparent's own birthday.
2. Let the grandparents sing. On a video call at candle time, the grandparents can sing the opening line while the child blows. Nobody has to be in the same room for the song.
3. Keep a recording. A birthday message in a grandmother's voice is worth keeping. On Azizan, a grandparent reads an illustrated Persian story on video, page by page, for a particular child; a tavallodet mobārak at the start of a story recorded on the birthday stays on the child's shelf. See how to record a story video for grandchildren.
4. Use the family words. Who sings matters to a small child: maman bozorg, bābā bozorg, khāleh, ammeh. Our page on Persian words for grandparents, aunts and uncles has them.

Related guides

• Greetings and polite words in Persian for kids
• Persian words for grandparents, aunts and uncles
• How to record a bedtime story video for grandchildren

Questions

How do you say happy birthday in Persian?

Tavallodet mobarak (تولدت مبارک). It is the everyday form for one person you know well, and that includes every child.

What is the Persian happy birthday song?

Tavallodet Mobarak, the song that opens tavallod tavallod tavallodet mobarak. It was composed by Anoushiravan Rohani and, according to three sources, first written for a birthday celebration of the Peykan car. Because it has a known author, this page quotes only its opening line.

What does sad sal zendeh bashi mean?

May you live a hundred years. It is the long-life wish of Persian birthdays and appears in the birthday song and in the short verses families write to children.

Does Azizan have a birthday song?

No. Azizan has illustrated Persian stories that relatives read aloud on video, in their own voices, with no synthetic singing or narration. A grandparent can open a story recorded on the birthday with tavallodet mobarak.

Open Azizan — record a story for your child

Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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