Are you saying "thank you" like a native speaker?

English Extras Episode #41: Are You Saying ‘Thank You’ Like a Native Speaker?

🌟 Episode Highlights

• basic ways to say thank you
• every day situations
• ways to level up your thanks

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Episode Transcript

Want to read along? 📖 Download the full transcript here

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Transcript

Hello, hello! Welcome to English Extras! I’m Jean, your guide to making your English sound natural and authentic.

This podcast is all about helping intermediate and advanced learners move beyond textbook phrases so you can express yourself with confidence.

If you want to follow along with today’s episode, I put a link to the transcript in the description for you. It’s full of key vocabulary, definitions, example sentences, as well as additional resources to help you take your learning to the next level. The best part? It’s totally free.

Ready? Let’s learn some English.

If you have been learning English for a while, you might have seen videos on YouTube or TikTok or Instagram saying something like “Don’t say ‘thank you’ in English!” or “Native speakers don’t say ‘thank you’!” 

I’m here to tell you a few things: yes, you should say ‘thank you’ in English; yes, native speakers do say ‘thank you’; and yes, there are different ways to say it.

Let’s start with the basic progression: from casual to formal. And after I introduce these, I’ll tell you when to use them.

If we take “thank you” as a standard, then to the more casual side, we have “thanks.” Thanks. 

Returning to “thank you” as a standard, to the more sincere side, we have “Thank you very much” or “Thank you so much.”

And then on the formal side, we have “I appreciate your help.”

The thing to remember is: the longer the phrase is, the more formal or sincere it usually is. The shorter the phrase is, the more casual it is.

But when can we use these different phrases?

Let’s start with more casual.

Casual situations would be: ordering at a cafe or coffee shop. You place an order for a coffee, they call your name, your order is ready, you go pick it up. To the barista, you can say, “Thanks!” before you pick up your drink and move on with your day.

You can also say this when someone says to you, “Have a nice day!” or “Enjoy your meal” or “Here’s your change.” 

In casual situations, you can also say “Thank you.” That is absolutely acceptable.

Now let’s say you’re at work and your coworker just helped you in some way. Maybe they helped you finish a presentation or they gave you notes on a project you’re working on. You can say, “I appreciate this” or “I really appreciate this” or even “You’re a lifesaver.”

“You’re a lifesaver” is a good expression to use when someone does you a favor: this can be a coworker or a friend. “You’re a lifesaver.”

But let’s say one of your friends or family did a big favor for you. For example, they took care of your dog while you were traveling. In a situation like that, you can say, “Thank you so much for taking care of my dog.” Or, because it’s a favor, you might want to then return the favor one day. In that case, you can say, “I owe you one.”

“I owe you one” means you want to do a favor in return one day. This, of course, is not required, but if someone did you a big favor and you want to return it, it’s a good expression to use. “I owe you one.”

If it’s a big favor, then you can say “I owe you big time.”

You can also add, “You’re the best!” This is also great with friends.

I’m going to tell you my favorite one to use: “I appreciate you.” Apparently, this phrase is becoming more common in the US in general. But I grew up in the southern part of the US, and the expression we used was a variation of this expression: “‘preciate it.”

Notice what’s happening here. The first “a” sound from “appreciate” is dropped, so it’s just “preciate.” The “I” is dropped entirely, like it never existed. So the phrase becomes “‘preciate it.”

In the South, it’s common to use this like “thanks.” It’s more casual, friendly, and warm.

But the core phrase–I appreciate you–is also commonly used. It’s great to use with friends when they do something nice for you, either a favor or just say something nice. For example, if one of my friends brings a little sweet treat to our regular game night, that’s a nice thing to do. It’s not a favor; it’s just nice, so I would say, “Oh my gosh, this is great! I appreciate you.”

Now let’s say you’re in a very formal situation or you want to be formal, even if the situation doesn’t call for it. 

For example, you did an interview for a new job and you want to send a follow-up email. You could use a phrase like, “I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to meet with me today.” (Appreciate is a good word to use when you’re thanking someone in general.) Here, the “sincerely” is what makes it more formal.

But what if you need to give a speech in English? And in the speech, you want to thank some people or an organization? In that case, you could try a phrase like, “I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude.” Remember what I said about the longer it is, the more formal it is? Well, this is a long sentence, so that combined with the “I would like” and “heartfelt gratitude” and “express”? Very formal.

Now, before we finish, I want to share with you the secret sauce to expressing your thanks like a native speaker.

If you’ve listened to my podcast for a while, you know I say this often: tone matters. Tone matters more than words. Tone is an extra layer of very important information that cannot be ignored. You can say the most formal sentence and sound awful if you’re using a flat, bored tone, like this: “I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude.”

See what I mean? So be aware of your tone. Be aware of your face. Are you smiling? Smiling is important. Americans smile a lot–I’ve heard other countries think this about Americans.

One final tip before we go: native speakers very often chain multiple expressions. Think of chains–a series of links connecting together. So taking myself as an example, I very often say things like, “Oh my gosh, you’re a lifesaver. I appreciate you” or “This is amazing! Thank you so much. I owe you one.”

So, depending on the conversation, try chaining multiple expressions of thanks together.

So there you have it! Various ways native speakers express their thanks to friends, family, strangers, and colleagues. 

What about you? What are the different ways you can express thanks in your language?

As always, thank you so much for watching! 

Until next time!

Bye!