Spanish Word of the Day: Feliz (happy)

It’s impossible to ignore the iconic song Feliz Navidad when Christmas rolls around. If you’ve listened to the lyrics, you’re likely already familiar with the Spanish word for happy: feliz!

Feliz is an adjective whose plural form is felices. It is derived from the Latin felix, which means both happy and fertile.

To be happy translates to ser feliz or estoy feliz (see more on the difference between them below) while to make someone happy can be rendered as hacer feliz a alguien.

Since we’re talking about an adjective, it is worth learning its comparative and superlative forms. Happier is más feliz while the happiest (of all) is el / la más feliz (de todos).

The happy ending to a real-life or fictional story can be translated as final feliz, while happy hour is called, quite literally, hora feliz.

We already mentioned the song title and greeting ¡Feliz Navidad! (Merry Christmas!) in the introduction, but did you know that feliz and the plural form felices appear in a number of other popular greetings as well?

¡Feliz Año Nuevo! = Happy New Year!
¡Felices fiestas! = Happy holidays!
¡Feliz cumpleaños! = Happy birthday!
¡Feliz cumpleaños atrasado! = Happy belated birthday!
¡Felices Pascuas! = Happy Easter!
¡Feliz viaje! = Have a good trip! (literally “Happy trip!”)

You may be wondering about the difference between feliz and another Spanish word for happy, contento. While they overlap in meaning, feliz denotes a stronger emotion than contento, which leans more towards being glad or content.

Additionally, feliz can describe either a person’s overall state of happiness (e.g., Él es una persona feliz = He is a happy person) or their current emotional state (e.g., Él está feliz ahora = He is happy now), whereas contento can only describe a person’s current emotional state (e.g., Él está contento ahora = He is happy now).

For this reason, you can say yo soy feliz (I am happy) but not yo soy contento because the verb ser (to be) is often used to describe characteristics that are considered permanent or essential. However, it’s important to note that permanent in this context doesn’t mean unchanging from moment to moment, but rather refers to qualities that define the essence of a person, thing, or concept. Yo estoy feliz and yo estoy contento, on the other hand, are both acceptable because the verb estar is used when talking about changeable states or variable things.

Idiomatic expressions featuring ‘feliz’

‘If You’re Happy and You Know It’ in Spanish

Before we wrap up this word of the day, I thought I’d share one of the most famous children’s songs translated into Spanish. Learning these simple songs is a great way to help you master simple vocabulary!