How to Thank People in English
Alex Case
Although it may seem easy to say “Thank you” in English, it can be difficult to pronounce it well and to use the perfect thanking phrase for each situation, get the right level of formality, use stronger thanking phrases, etc. This article runs through basic thanking and then moves onto the trickier parts of showing how grateful you are.
Basic thanking language
By far the most common thanking phrases are “Thank you” and “Thanks”, with “Thank you” being slightly more formal. In British English, “Cheers” is also common as a more informal thanking phrase, with other options like “Ta” being less common.
Longer thanking phrases
Formal thanking phrases
As is true of formal language generally, more polite thanking phrases tend to be longer and have longer words, as in:
- “I am very grateful for…”
- “We really appreciate…”
- “We would like to thank you for…”
These phrases also show the reason for thanking, which is also common with the basic phrases “Thanks for…” and “Thank you for…”
Stronger thanking phrases
The more formal phrases above include the words “very” and “really” to make the thanks stronger. This is also common with the basic thanking phrases, as in:
- “Thanks a lot (for…)”
- “Thanks a million (for…)”
- “Thank you so much (for…)”
Strong thanking phrases are also sometimes used sarcastically/ ironically, giving them the negative meaning of “Thanks for nothing”. You therefore have to be very careful with your tone of voice when thanking, especially thanking strongly. It’s difficult to generalise about the pronunciation, but fairly flat but slowly falling intonation tends to sound not really meant, whereas real thanks has more varied up and down intonation. You can find examples online by googling search terms like “sarcastic thanks a lot”.
Other strong thanking phrases
Another common way to thank people is to say how wonderful they are or how fantastic their actions are, as in:
- “You’re a (total) star”
- “You’re an absolute hero”
- “You are a life saver”/ “You saved my life”
- “That was very kind/ thoughtful/ considerate/… of you”
- “I couldn’t have done it without you”
- “… was a great help (with…)”
- “… was just what I needed”
- “… was exactly what I was looking for”
- “I couldn’t have coped without…”
An interesting variation is to say that what they did is too much, as in:
- “You really shouldn’t have…”
- “I couldn’t possibly accept (…)”
- “You didn’t have to go to all this/ that trouble”
- “I really can’t thank you enough (for…)”
Another common thanking tactic is to talk about paying them back, as in:
- “I’ll do the same for you (sometime)”
- “In return, I’d like to…”
- “To make up for it,…”
- “How can I ever repay you (for…)?”
- “I owe you one (for…)”
- “I’d like to make it up to you (by…)”
More specific thanking phrases
“Thanks again (for…)” can be very useful to end a conversation or email that is mainly about thanking.
You can also use phrases with “Thank you” or “Thanks” before someone does something, most often in ending email phrases like:
- “Thank you in advance”
- “Thank you for your cooperation”
- “Thank you for your understanding”
- “Thank you for your patience”
There are important differences between these. “Thank you in advance” is used to end requests like “Could you help me with…?” while “Thank you for your cooperation” is used to end commands/ orders/ instructions like “Please make sure that you…” Both are most common in emails and very rare when speaking to someone. “Thanks” and “Cheers” can be used with both meanings in more informal situations.
“Thank you for your understanding” often has the hidden meaning “Sorry, there is nothing more I can do, so there is no point contacting me again”. “Thank you for your patience” has the similar but less negative hidden meaning “There will be a delay before I can do anything, so please wait for another email without contacting me again in the meantime”.
“Thanks anyway” is used when the other person couldn’t help, to mean “Thanks for trying/ for your efforts/ for your time (despite the results)”