STOP Saying Thank You! 🚫 | Learn These 12 Alternatives to say 'Thank You'

Hi there. This is Harry. And welcome back  to Advanced English Lessons with Harry,  

where I try to help you get a better  understanding of the English language.

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Okay, we're going to get back to our  lesson and today's advanced English  

lesson. We're looking at alternative  ways to say thank you. We've got 12  

other ways advanced ways in  which you can say thank you.

Now students often ask, why? Why do  I need another way or 12 other ways  

to say thank you? Isn't "thank you" simply enough?

Well,

Of course it is. If you get something.  Thank you. Would you like this? Thank you.

Can you do this? Thank you. Yeah. So thank  you is perfect. It's nice English. It's  

polite English. It's easy to understand  English, but if you use it all the time,  

perhaps you want to experiment. You've heard  other people use other expressions, other phrases,  

and you just want to try and practice. Can I  use those instead of a very simple thank you?

Okay, so that's what we're doing here. We're  going to give you alternatives. In fact,  

12 alternatives for you to say thank you. So

I'll go through them one by one and just give  you a simple example when you might use them.

First one. That. That's great. Okay, so somebody  dropped something on your desk. Finished report,  

a completed report, the up-to-date  report you're looking for. Oh. That's  

great. I'll look at that now.  Okay. Thank you. That's great.

Or a very, very relaxed, informal way.  Cheers. Yeah. Cheers. Yeah. So somebody  

says, yeah, I've left you some coffee in the,

coffee cup, or I've left you some coffee in the  kitchen just to help yourself out. Cheers. That's  

great. Thank you. I'll go along now and I'll get  some for my lunch. Okay. So just a simple cheers.

Now, cheers is also a way people say it when  they're saluting each other in the bar. But as  

a thank you, it's a very informal way up. Cheers.  Yeah, that was really nice. Very kind of you.

Oh, another one is just to say.  nice one. Yeah. So, you know,  

somebody goes out to the cafe or the  coffee shop or the, the patisserie, the,  

the place with all the lovely cakes and they bring  back a big box of chocolate éclairs and they,  

they put them in the kitchen and they  send a message round on the email.

There are cakes in the kitchen first come, first  served. Yeah. So help yourself. So a few people  

might just say thank you or cheers as we practice  or nice one. That sounds really good on a Friday  

afternoon. Just what the doctor ordered.  Nice one. So another way to say thank you.

If you want to be a little bit more formal and  very, very polite, then a way of saying thank you  

is, "I really appreciate it." I really appreciate  it. You've gone out of your way or you've helped  

me, or you've shown me where I made a mistake,  or you've helped me to finish this report and  

you just want to say thank you. I know I really  appreciate it. So often something we would say in  

written format, you know, so you write in an email  to a colleague who's stayed behind late and helped  

you to complete an order, or they've shown you  how to do this correctly because you're just new.

And in the organisation, then just  a nice little line and say, look,  

I really appreciate what you did. I couldn't  have done it without you. I really appreciate it.

Oh, if we want to tell  somebody that, we will be very.

Happy to help them in the future that we'd  be very happy to, as you say, to return the  

compliment. Then the way we say thank you is I  owe you one. Yeah. And I owe you one means, yeah,  

you've done a favour for me, and I'd be very happy  to do a similar favour for you in the future.

You only have to ask. I owe you  one. Or simply, I owe you. Okay,  

so that's a good way. Usually for friends,  when your friend does something for you,  

perhaps he gives you a lift or  lends you the car or picks you up

because your car is in town or in the  car park. I said, look, that was great.

I owe you one. So if you need any help,  

just give me a bell or give me a shout or  give me a call I owe you or I owe you one.

Another way, number six is, good to hear. Yeah,  

good to hear that you're happy. Good to hear  that you're coming along. Good to hear that.

enjoyed the presentation. Good to  hear that you're considering our  

proposal? Yeah. So good to hear.  Just another way to say thanks.

And while on the topic, if you do like this  particular lesson, then please like the video  

and if you can subscribe to the channel  because it does. It really, really helps.

Or a nice way to say thank you when somebody,

Gives you a bit of good news on a Monday  morning, perhaps after a long weekend,  

or even better, after a difficult  week. On a Friday, you get some good  

news about an account that you've won,  or some promotion or bonus or whatever  

it might be. Then you can say, that makes  my day. Yeah, that makes my days. Thanks.

That makes my day. So when you get good news,

and it maybe it follows on from a difficult  call with a client or a difficult discussion  

with the boss, or just the fact that  you're snowed under with work are great  

on a Friday. A bit of good news at last.  Something good to go home with. Yeah, that.

That will make my day or that makes my day.

Or a nice way is, music to my  ears. So when we hear good news,  

when we hear and get a good reaction, you  say, music to my ears. Like, you know,  

when you hear nice music, it sits in your head  all day and you sing it or hum it. So yeah,  

when something is music to your  ears, it makes you feel good.

And it's a good way to thank somebody for  something they have done. Yeah. So somebody  

comes in and they say, oh, that was a great  meal, dad. You know we really appreciate it.  

Really tasty. You're it's really cool that you  can cook as well as mom. Music to my ears. Thanks  

for the compliment. I don't often get them,  but it's nice to hear some music to my ears.

Or again, when we talk about hearing  something, one expression and say,  

just what I wanted to hear. Yeah. So, you know,  it could be something very, very simple that  

you've picked up your daughter from school,  you've brought her home, she's got ready to  

go to that party or the first date or the second  date with the boyfriend. You drop her into town.

She's really happy. She leans across and gives  you a kiss. Thanks, dad. I really appreciate  

it. Just what I wanted to hear, just a little  simple. Thanks. Just what I wanted to hear.

Now. We were very, very, very grateful.  Yeah. And somebody has done something

very, very special for us. They've gone out of  their way to help us. They've done something.  

You know that extra mile, as we call it. And  so we really want to thank them. Just a simple  

thank you is not going to be enough. So we  say I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I really, really appreciate this. I mean, I can't  express how grateful I am for what you've done.  

So I thank you from the bottom of my heart. So  you've gone a long way to find words as to how  

to express your appreciation and your thanks,  because somebody has done that little bit extra  

for you. You know, maybe they've picked you up  from the hospital, they've lent you the car.

They have,

You put in a good word with that boss  when you want to change your jobs and  

you might get an opportunity to join the  company of your friend. Okay, so you know,  

they've done that little bit of thing, something  extra they didn't really have to do. They're under  

no obligation. So to show your appreciation,  I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So deep, deep thanks.

Or in another way, you don't  know what this means to you. And  

often people don't when it could be for  them, something very simple. But for you,  

something really critical. So when you again  saying thank you is just not simply enough.  

So you don't know what this means to me. It  really means a lot to me that people care.

It really means a lot to me that people  would go out of their way to help me. Yeah,  

you don't know what that means to me.  So if somebody is new to the country,  

new to the company, new to your  university, whatever it is,  

you just do that extra bit for them. You help  them, you introduce yourself, you introduce

them to other people.

You do something that you would like  to be done to you. Yeah. So we all  

hope that we could help somebody in the  way that we might like to be helped if  

we were in the same position. And  they will come back with a nice,  

positive thank you. But words like  you don't know what that means to me.

And we probably don't. We don't know what that  means to them to be taken in, to be helped,  

to be assisted. You don't know what that  means to me. I'm really, really grateful.

And then if you helped somebody out  and they were in desperate straits,  

they were up against a deadline or they  weren't sure how to solve a problem,  

or they'd made some mistake. And if the boss  finds out, he's going to be very annoyed. So  

they can thank you by saying something like, oh,  you've saved my skin, or you've saved my bacon.

Or you've saved the day. Okay, so all meaning  the same thing. If you hadn't helped me when you  

did. I'm not so sure what would have happened. So  you've saved my skin. Now, literally. You saved my  

skin. I could have been fired. You saved my bacon  like the poor little pig that gets sent to the

abattoir or you've saved the day.  You've stepped in, the white knight.

The knight in shining armour, the person who's  there to help you when everything else looks like  

it's very bleak and very black. So you've saved  the day. You saved my bacon. You've saved my skin.

Okay, so that's our 12 different ways to say  thank you. So as I said in the beginning,  

that simple thank you is perfect or thanks.

Yeah. So we hear it all the time.  But it's always nice in English to  

have alternative ways when you can express  yourself. In some situations a simple thank  

you is just not enough. So one of these  other alternatives is much more suitable.

Okay, so here they are again.

That's great. Cheers. Oh. Nice one. I really  

appreciate it. I owe you I  owe you one. Good to hear.

That's music to my ears. That makes my day or  that will make my day. Just what I wanted to hear.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  You don't know what that means to me.

And then finally, you've saved  the day. You've saved my skin.  

Or you saved my bacon. All of  them. Meaning the same thing.

Okay, so nice ways in which you can  say thank you. And it's always nice to  

get a thank you. It's always nice to give  one. And it's always nice to receive one.

Okay. So in terms of that, this is Harry  giving you a big thank you. Thanks for  

watching. Thanks for listening. Practice  these if you have any problems. Come back  

and I'll try and help you further, okay? And  make sure you join me for the next lesson.