Different Ways to Say Thank You in Spanish
Do you want to be able to appropriately express your gratitude to people in Spanish? There are several options beyond the word ‘gracias.’ We’ll go over both formal and informal ways to do this in this lesson.
Same as English
When someone is nice, you are polite and say, ‘Thank you,’ or ‘Thanks.’ When someone goes out of their way to help, you say, ‘Thank you very much’ or ‘Thank you so much.’ Just like this, people have a few ways to say ‘thank you’ in Spanish and we are going to first learn those you can use with anyone. Then we will learn other ways that you should only use in the context of formal or informal situations. Let’s begin.
Translation: To emphasise the word thanks we must write both exclamation marks correctly.
‘Thank You’ for All Occasions
You want to thank someone for showing you a location, giving up their seat for you, or letting you go ahead of them in a line. In public situations like this, as well as in private situations, you can use any of the following options, but keep in mind that you should always accompany these words in a nice and friendly tone to really convey your message. Here are the most basic ways to thank someone:
- Gracias (GRAH-seeahs) means ‘thanks’ or ‘thank you’
- Muchas gracias (MOO-chahs GRAH-seeahs) means ‘thanks a lot’ or ‘thank you very much’
- Muchísimas gracias (moo-CHEE-see-mahs GRAH-seeahs) means ‘thanks a lot’ or ‘thank you very very much’.
- Mil gracias (meel GRAH-seeahs) means ‘a thousand thank yous’
Note: Mil gracias has a literal translation into English so that you understand what it means, but we don’t have an equivalent in English.
If you wish, add the preposition por after any of these expressions and then you can add the reason why you’re thanking them. The reason can be a noun or a verb. Let’s see, for instance, what Paula writes to her boss for the Christmas gift she received:
- Muchas gracias por la botella de vino. (Thanks a lot for the bottle of wine.)
Similarly, Andrea is Paula’s boss, and when she gave each of her employees a bottle of wine, she wrote the following message:
- Gracias por trabajar tan responsablemente. (Thank you for working so responsibly.)
In this case, we have a verb.
By the way, a common expression to thank someone for a bunch of stuff they did for you is to say:
- Gracias por todo (GRAH-seeahs pohr TOH-doh), which means ‘thank you for everything’
For the expression gracias por todo, make sure to only use it when someone really has done a lot of stuff for you. For instance, you would not say this to a stranger who helps you with quick information in the street. Now, let’s move on to ‘thank you’ expressions in informal situations.
Translation: Thank you very much for attending my wedding.
‘Thank you’ for Friends and Family
When you want to thank a family member or friend for a favor they did, a gift, a kindness, etc., you can use the expressions for all occasions. Also, since you probably address them with tú (you, informal, singular), you can use these:
- Te agradezco mucho (teh ah-grah-DEHS-koh MOO-choh) means ‘I thank you very much’
As you can see, we are conjugating the verb agradecer (ah-grah-deh-SEHR) which is ‘to thank.’
If you are speaking for yourself and others, make sure to say this instead:
- Te agradecemos mucho (teh ah-grah-deh-SEH-mohs MOO-choh), which means ‘we thank you very much’
If you are thanking more than one person at the time, make note of this important issue: if you are in Latin America, people use ustedes (you, formal, plural) even for family and friends, which means you would say:
- Les agradezco mucho (lehs ah-grah-DEHS-koh MOO-choh), which means ‘I thank you all very much’
Of course, make sure to say les agradecemos instead if you are thanking more than one person for yourself and others.
Now, if you are in Spain the story is different. People use vosotros there as this is ‘you, informal, plural.’ In this case:
- Os agradezco mucho (ohs ah-grah-deh-SEH-mohs MOO-choh) means ‘I thank you all very much’
Same as before, say os agradecemos instead if you are thanking for yourself and others.
Finally, instead of mucho you could say inmensamente (een-mehn-sah-MEHN-teh). This word means ‘immensely’ and it conveys a feeling of huge gratitude, AND you can also add a noun or verb afterwards to specify the reason for your gratitude.
Another less common way nowadays is dar las gracias (to give thanks):
- Le doy las gracias (teh doh-ee las GRAH-seeahs) means ‘I give you thanks’
Use damos (DAH-mohs) if you are speaking for someone else as well, and os for thanking more than one person.
