Is it correct to say "los cumpleaños" or "el cumpleaños"?

Question

Hey guys,

Today my friend told me that he's going to a birthday party. Tomorrow I am gonna ask him - ' How was the party?' What is the correct way to say it? Can I ask - " Como fue los cumpleaños" or "Como fue el cumpleaños" or is there any another way to ask?

Thanks

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, Jan 5, 2011

thanks ;) - PearCloud, Jan 5, 2011

Answer 1

"¿Como fue el cumpleaños?" is correct because this is one event.

You may use the plural if you are asking about 2 or more events ie: "¿Como fueron los cumpleaños de María y de Gerardo?"

That's what I thought but I was asking a lot of the native speakers at my job ¿Cómo fue la navidad? and a lot of them told me to use estuvo. - pescador1, Jan 5, 2011

Come to think of it my profesora from Colombia would always ask me ¿Cómo estuvo tú fin de semana? I think you can use both depending. - pescador1, Jan 5, 2011

It´s a matter of nuance as far as which to use in this particular case. Both can work - 005faa61, Jan 5, 2011

The nuance depends on other words involved as well, ie, "¿Cómo te fue la fiesta?" "Qué tal estuvo la fiesta?" - 005faa61, Jan 5, 2011

hmmm this is getting interesting! I didn't think about 'estuvo' in this case cuz some of my spanish speaking friends always ask me at night 'como fue tu dia?' - PearCloud, Jan 5, 2011

Answer 2

Even though the RAE is the final authority for proper or correct spanish, among the millions and millions of spanish speakers in the world today, you will find colloquial and dialectic differences.

It is possible that due to the regional differences, "qué tal fue tu cumpleaños" or "qué tal estuvo tu cumpleaños" both could be local usages correct in their region, even if they may not agree with the RAE.

I think that it will be helpful, for all of us learning and advising, to specify their region, or the region were the phrase is used.

Answer 3

You can check this in the dictionary link below.

link text

El cumpleaños for a single birthday.

Los cumpeaños indicates multiple birthdays.

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

I think the use of ser would be to summarize the overall experience whereas estar would imply you wanted a more detailed answer like "At first it was boring and then everyone got drunk and blah blah blah....".

yeah well I'm trying to compare these two now and I guess you might be right.. - PearCloud, Jan 5, 2011

Answer 5

¿Cómo estuvo la fiesta de cumpleaños?