| Hi, everybody! My name is Alisha. In this lesson, I'm going to talk about how to say "thank you" in English. I'm also going to talk about some responses that you can use if someone says "thank you" to you. So, let's get started by looking at some expressions to say "thank you" in English. |
| First let's begin with the most basic expression, "thank you." So, "thank you" is easy to remember. It's polite and you can use it in basically any situation. You can use it at work, with your friends, whatever. Slightly more casual is "thanks," thanks. So "thanks" is good to use with friends or for small favors. You cannot say "thanks you," however. You can use "thank you" or "thanks." |
| Some other things we do with the expression "thank you" are we add these two words to the end of it. We use "thank you very" or "thank you so much," "thank you very much" or "thank you so much." One thing we do when we use "so" is we often make the O sound really long, "thank you sooo much." So that can help us show our appreciation in a more, like kind of casual and friendly way. The difference between so and very here is that so sounds more casual. I would use "so" with my friends and "thank you very much" in like a work situation or some...some situation where I want to sound a little more polite. So "thank you so much" or "thank you very much," those sound great and you can use them any time. |
| Let's look at the next three then. The next three here, I've marked as thank you expressions you can use when you want to say thank you for a specific action, when you want to use like a verb, thank you for doing (some verb) or you want to use like a specific noun. So, this one, this "thank you," there's nothing specific. In this expression on in these three expressions, we want to share something specific. |
| So these patterns are "thank you for (something, something) -ING." |
| So, "thank you for helping me," for example. |
| Or |
| "Thank you for cleaning my house." |
| "Thank you for studying with me," for example. |
| So in this pattern, I'm using the -ING, the progressive form of the verb. You can change this, like… |
| "Thank you for the gift." |
| "Thank you for the present." |
| "Thank you for your time," for example. |
| So, you can use a verb as I've done here or a noun phrase. |
| This one is similar, "many thanks for (something)." So again, we can use the same -ING form of a verb or we can use a noun phrase. This sounds a little bit more polite than this expression. |
| "Many thanks for the meeting yesterday." |
| "Many thanks for helping me with the files I needed to put together." |
| So this one sounds a little bit more formal. I tend to use this one at the beginning of a work email like… |
| "Many thanks for the information." |
| Or |
| "Many thanks for the files. |
| I like to use this in work emails. |
| If you want to make it even more formal, you can try this one, "I greatly appreciate..." |
| "I greatly appreciate your time." |
| Or |
| "I greatly appreciate you attending our conference this year." |
| "I greatly appreciate all the work you did for the event." |
| So, "I greatly appreciate" sounds really formal or when you really, really want to communicate strong thanks to someone, "I greatly appreciate," I greatly appreciate. So you can choose a verb or a noun to use here. |
| Okay, so as I said, this one is rather formal. We can use an expression like this when we're working in, like an organization. So I mentioned in this case, you might use it for like a work situation. This next one is similar. |
| "We express our sincere appreciation for (something)." |
| So "we express," this "we," means like our company, our team, our organization. |
| "We express..." so "express" means share or say in some way, communicate. |
| "Our sincere..." so this is like sincerely at the end of an email like truly, honestly, genuinely. |
| "We express our sincere appreciation" like gratitude for this thing you did. |
| So here, we see "for" which means we can follow the same pattern, actually. You can remove this. |
| "We express our sincere appreciation." |
| That's fine. That becomes kind of like a general thank you, but if you want to make it specific, you can add this "for" and follow the same pattern we talked about for these phrases. |
| So, "we express our sincere appreciation for your support," for example. |
| That's kind of a very company or organization-specific sentence or expression of gratitude. |
| "We express our sincere appreciation for your donation," for example. |
| So, I feel perhaps, this one might use noun phrases more than verbs, not always, but perhaps more noun phrases here. So yes, this is good for formal situations especially in organizations because we use this "we" here. Of course, you can change this, so that you use "we / he / she" like, "we greatly appreciate…" is fine to use as well. It just depends on your situation. |
| Anyway, let's continue on to the next expression which is, "thank you kindly for..." |
| So, you'll notice that this is very similar to these like "thank you" or "thank you for." The difference here is we have this "kindly." So, we're including "kindly" which shows, I feel like, kind of this gratitude and I want to express that I have kind feelings for you. |
| "Thank you kindly for (something)." |
| So, it's a nice and also, kind of polite expression actually. So, you might think, ah, this sounds friendly, but this is something we use more in work emails. I would not use this with a friend, actually. This would sound too polite to use with a friend. |
| So, this is good in work situations like… |
| "Thank you kindly for the email." |
| "Thank you kindly for the files." |
| "Thank you kindly for meeting with me this afternoon." |
| So, it sounds formal and it's when you want to express that kind of kind feeling as well. |
| Okay, let's go to the next one. This one is "thank you for your understanding." |
| This is a set phrase, so we don't change this part, this "thank you for your understanding." This always...this remains the same always. So, "thank you for your understanding," this is a polite expression. We use it for changes and for inconveniences. So, let's say for example, you received a letter in the mail and it's from like your mobile phone company, for example, and they say, "there's a change to your contract, thank you for your understanding." |
| So, it's kind of sharing like some kind of information and this expression shows like we appreciate in advance that you understand the situation. So, it's like we're gonna… we're going to make this change so thank you. Thank you for maybe not getting angry or thank you for just understanding the situation, really. |
| So, this is a formal expression used for like changes to things and you'll also see it like, I said, for inconveniences, for example, like a construction site. If there's lots of noise or if it's really dirty and dusty, there might be a sign that says, you know, "construction in progress" which means we're working now, we're building something now, "thank you for your understanding," so we appreciate your understanding of the situation. So, it's kind of like an apology and thank you at the same time. So, this is a set phrase. You can use this in your organization, in your company, but this is one that's too formal to use with friends. I would not use this with friends. |
| Okay, let's move on to the next one, "I really appreciate it." |
| So, I have "I" and "really" in parentheses here because we can drop this from the sentence and make a very formal, I'm sorry, a very casual, this is a very casual way to express a thanks. So, by that, I mean among friends, we'll often just say, "appreciate it" or just "appreciated" as well. If you want to make a full sentence, you could say… |
| "I appreciate it." |
| Or |
| "I really appreciate it." |
| Those are great too. You will hear native speakers just drop it though, "appreciate it," so it sounds friendly, it sounds like you really express your thanks and it's just kind of a quick expression that you can use. So, this is good for your co-workers and colleagues. You can use this with friends as well, it won't sound too polite. So, this is great. Perhaps, a little bit more polite than just "thank you," so you can use it with friends, like, if your friend has done you kind of an interesting favor, for example. |
| Okay, let's go on to the last one. That last one is actually two, but this is kind of casual, friendly and, perhaps, unique to certain people. So, some people might choose to use this, some people might not. Anyway, the expressions are "thanks a bunch" and "thanks a million," thanks a million. I'm a person who sometimes uses "thanks a bunch." So a bunch means a lot of something. It's like saying "thanks a lot," but "thanks a bunch" which is a casual word is less formal. It's very like…it's very casual, something we would use with friends. I would use this if my friend did something small that helped me, "thanks a bunch." You might get the feeling that it's used by people who have kind of like an upbeat personality, perhaps. I feel that this tends to be used more among women, actually too. |
| Thanks a million, on the other hand, is one that I don't hear as often as "thanks a bunch." So again, a million, a million is a big number. We do not say "thanks a hundred" or "thanks a thousand" or "thanks a trillion." We only say,"thanks a million." So again, this means thank you very much really, but it's a casual friendly way of saying it. So, like I said, I tend to hear a bunch more and it tends to be used more for women, though it's okay for men to use as well. So "thanks a bunch," "thanks a million," those are good ones to use with your friends if you like. |
| So, to conclude then, how do you respond when someone says "thank you?" |
| So, I made a big list of some very common responses for "thank you." So, most of these, we use and they don't actually mean anything other than like agreement. So, at the top here is maybe my favorite, "sure!" So, someone says "thank you," I say, "sure" or I say "sure thing," sure thing. This is like, it's a sure thing. So, it's kind of like saying, it's real, it's true, it's genuine, "sure thing." |
| This is another common one that's very casual, very friendly, many people like to use one of these, "no problem," no problem, or "no prob," no prob, so "prob" is just a short version. The -lem has been cut off of the problem. So, "no prob" is quite casual, more casual than "no problem." So, these are all okay to use at work with your friends, with your family members. I would not use them in a formal situation, though. |
| Continuing, "you bet," you bet. Again, another one. It's like saying, "no problem," not a problem for me, of course, I will help you or "of course," "no problem." |
| "Yep" is like a casual way of saying "yes," "yep," yep, instead of "yes." So, "yes" sounds, actually a little too polite. We don't use "yes" so much. We might say "yep" instead. |
| Another one, "no sweat." "No sweat" is kind of cute. "No sweat" means like there's no reason for you to sweat. So we sweat maybe when we get, of course, warm, but when we feel nervous or upset or anxious about something. So, "no sweat" means like… |
| "Don't worry about it, it's not a problem, no sweat." |
| So this one is quite friendly as well. |
| Another one, "for sure." This is similar to "sure." So, "for sure" is another very positive upbeat, quick way to say, a response to "thank you." |
| This one is very common in work situations and this is important. I've made this part in capital letters, the "you" here, because the emphasis on your response here is important. If someone says "thank you," and you say, "no, thank you," it's like showing that both parties, both people did something that helps the other person. So, for example, if someone comes to set up the camera for this shoot and I say, "thank you," they might say, "no, thank you" because I'm going to make something with what they've set up, so we're helping each other, so we can use an expression like this, "no, thank you." So, your intonation matters here. |
| Okay, another one is "of course," of course. So, it's like, it's like saying… |
| "Of course, I would help you." |
| "Of course, I want to help you." |
| Or like… |
| "I was no problem for me. We have a good relationship." |
| That's the feeling here. |
| I have included this, "you're welcome" on the list, but this is not used that often. It's correct to say if someone says "thank you," "you're welcome." You can use this. It's less friendly, I feel, than the other ones, "you're welcome," you're welcome. You can use this if you don't know the other person or if it's...yeah, if it's like a stranger you might use this, like a stranger holds the door open for you, then you say, "thank you." That person might say, "you're welcome." So, this one is less familiar, so you can use this, but again, perhaps, something that's a little bit closer like in terms of relationship would be good. |
| Finally, "not at all," not at all. It's like "no problem," no problem. So, if someone says "thank you," you can say "not at all." It's like...it means like it was no trouble for me, it was no problem for me. |
| So, we can use all of these to respond to "thank yous." In most cases, you can apply them to any of these situations like "thank you." If someone says "thank you," "sure, sure thing, yep, no sweat." You can use all of them if you want and you can combine them, but generally, just choose one, that's fine, and try to use a mix of these to respond. |
| Keep in mind though that if someone uses a more formal expression, like "I greatly appreciate your help" or "we express our sincere appreciation for…," your response should be kind of matching in that formality level. So, we express our sincere appreciation for your support. If you see that, then you might use like...like a...for example… |
| "We really appreciate the opportunity to work with you." |
| So, something like that where you kind of return the same expression might be better than just using a casual expression like these for conversation. So, you can kind of feel that...as you, maybe, level up your ways to say thank you, but in general, these are some pretty good responses for you to start with, okay. |
| So, I'm gonna end there. I hope that that was helpful for you. If you have any questions or comments or have some different ways to say thank you, there are many, or some different responses, there are many, please let us know in the comment section of this video. Thanks very much for watching this lesson and I will see you again soon. Bye-bye! |
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