Main Differences Between “Auguri”, “Congratulazioni” and “Complimenti” - Le Principali Differenze Delle Parole “Auguri”, “Congratulazioni” e “Complimenti”

Let’s Talk Italian With Aronne

Ciao ragazzi! Bentornati nel mio podcast! Nella puntata di oggi, vi insegnerò i diversi significati e i diversi utilizzi delle parole “Auguri”, “Congratulazioni” e “Complimenti”. Queste parole vengono usate spesso nelle conversazioni di tutti i giorni. Possono sembrare molto facili da utilizzare, in realtà, bisogna fare molta attenzione a come e quando utilizzarle. Per aiutarvi con la comprensione, vi trascriverò tutti i significati principali di queste parole nella descrizione, dateci un’occhiata!

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Hi guys! Welcome back to my podcast! In today's episode, I'll teach you the different meanings and the different uses of “Auguri”, “Congratulazioni” and “Complimenti”. These words are often used in everyday conversations. They may seem very easy to use but you need to be very careful about how and when to use them. I'll report the expressions you'll hear in the description of this episode, take a look! Have a good time listening.

Auguri! (Best Wishes/Happy…)

This word is used:

1) during a personal recurring celebration (birthday, name-day, anniversary, ecc.) addressing the guests of honor

2) during a collective celebration (Christmas, Easter or New Year’s Eve) addressing all those present, indistinctly

3) during non-personal celebration (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, ecc.) addressing those who meet the criteria of the celebrated event

There’s another way to do the best wishes, namely following the structure: Buon/a/e (Happy/Merry) + name of the celebration (Buon compleanno (Happy Birthday), Buon Natale (Merry Christmas), Buona festa della mamma (Happy Mother’s day), ecc.)

We have two possibilities to reply:

- Grazie (Thank you): if the celebration is personale, since the guest of honor has to thank everyone for the received wishes

- Altrettanto (the same to you): if the celebration is collective, since we have to reciprocate the received wishes

Sometimes “Auguri” can also take an ironic and sarcastic nuance, especially in informal contexts. In fact, if someone tells us something they’re proud of, but that’s not important for us or we simply want to belittle it, “Auguri!” will have the value of : “Sì, ok, ma non mi importa” (Yeah, ok, but I don’t care)

Congratulazioni! (Congratulations!)

This word is used during a personal non-recurring celebration (wedding, the birth of a baby, etc.) addressing only those who are directly involved.

Keep well in mind that if the personal non-recurring celebration hasn’t occurred yet, we’ll use “auguri“ and not “congratulazioni!“. For example, if a friend of yours announces that’s getting married, using the word “auguri” would be like saying: “Spero che il tuo matrimonio vada bene!”(I hope your wedding goes well)

“Congratulazioni”, on the other hand, should be used, when the event has occurred, for example, if the friend just got married, so it would like saying: “Sono felice che tu ti sia sposato” (I’m happy you got married)

“Congratulazioni!” is also used when we want to exhibit, in a warm way, our complacency, our satisfaction, our joy to someone who has achieved a great goal or a great result thanks to their own skills and abilities, like a promotion at work or a degree.

Complimenti! (Well done/Bravo!)

This word is used to express our admiration for someone, for any reason, like a complex puzzle that has been completed or a picture nicely drawn. In addition, as a noun, it indicates the combination of words, attitudes that express appreciation, admiration or reverence towards someone. Usually, we compliment someone for their physical appearance or their character.

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