6 Must-Have Phrases to Express Gratitude in English (Use to reflect and practice gratitude)

75,399 views ・ 2021-12-15

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Saying thank you is a common way to express gratitude or show
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appreciation when someone does something nice for you. But gratitude,
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the practice of gratitude,
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is so much more than saying thank you.
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I'm sure that you've read blog posts or listened to podcasts on the importance
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of creating a gratitude practice or maybe even having a gratitude
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journal. In fact, inside my Confident Women Community ,
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this has become a hot topic of conversation with
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regular discussions and exchanges on how to best implement a practice of
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gratitude. So as you begin to reflect on the past year,
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how can you best express your gratitude in English?
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How can you go beyond a simple, thank you. If you don't already know,
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I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English,
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everything I do here is designed to help you get the confidence you want for
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your life and work in English. In this Confident English lesson,
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you're going to learn six different ways to express gratitude in English.
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As a result,
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you'll have richer word choices you can use to express the depth of
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your gratitude.
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Before we dive into this and let's explore what gratitude really means.
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A simple dictionary definition states that gratitude is the quality of being
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thankful. However, as you've likely discovered,
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a practice of gratitude is far more profound.
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Gratitude is a selfless,
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deep appreciation for the things we receive,
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whether tangible or intangible.
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And a practice of gratitude can help you feel more positive,
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build stronger relationships and experience catharsis or the
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release of strong emotions.
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On top of all of that regularly expressing gratitude allows you to
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communicate reminisce about and relish your past
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experiences while English speakers do often say thank you to express
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their appreciation or gratitude to someone.
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We tend to go beyond a simple thank you to express our gratitude
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for a past event or experience.
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And here are six ways to do that phrase. Number one,
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I'm grateful or thankful... Rather than say that you're glad something happened,
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you can go a step further and start your sentence with one of these
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collocations that begins with I'm grateful.
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I'm grateful for I'm grateful to.
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I'm grateful that,
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and I'm grateful to someone.
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Let me give you a couple of clear examples.
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If you appreciate someone's past actions toward you,
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you could say I'm grateful to my mentor for teaching
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me effective strategies for success.
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Or if you want to express appreciation for a recent
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experience,
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you could say I'm grateful to have had this
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opportunity. And now phrase number two,
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I appreciate just like with I'm grateful we have multiple
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collocations using. I appreciate... For example,
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I appreciate that.
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Or I appreciate the fact that I appreciate followed
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by an indirect object, for example, an individual. And I appreciate how,
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let me give you a couple of examples.
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When you want to show that you appreciate a past experience, you could say,
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I appreciate how my years of training got me through the toughest moments of my
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career. Not only does the word appreciate express gratitude,
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but it also indicates recognition.
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You're recognizing the influence of a past experience or recognizing an
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individual. And now phrase number three, I feel blessed.
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This is an ideal sentence starter when you want to express a deep sense of
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gratitude. When we start a sentence with, I feel blessed,
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we can follow it with that, to, for, and with. For
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example, in your life,
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I'm sure there is one person situation or circumstance that you
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feel truly deeply grateful for.
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And you can express that gratefulness by saying,
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I felt blessed for having another opportunity to rebuild my business
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phrase. Number four on our list today is I count my blessings.
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This is a popular idiom used to recognize all the positive things
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that have happened in someone's life. For instance, you might say,
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I count my blessings when I think about how lucky I was to get hired
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before the recession. In addition to that expression, you might have heard,
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I count my blessings twice,
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and of course this communicates an even stronger sense of gratitude.
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For example,
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I count my blessings twice that my daughter was able to graduate despite
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the ups and downs she's experienced over the last few years.
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Phrase number five for expressing gratitude is I'm fortunate.
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Every now and then when we reflect on the past,
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we may also have a sense of feeling lucky as well as
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thankful. And when we have that sense,
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using the words I'm fortunate is an ideal way to express that combination
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of feelings. For example, in my situation,
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I would say with absolute certainty,
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I feel fortunate for having an amazing team.
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And now phrase number six,
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our last way to express gratefulness in today's Confident English lesson
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is I'm indebted.
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When you think back on the people in your life who have helped you move forward,
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they may have done so with great kindness, empathy,
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and generosity.
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When you want to express your gratitude for that individual
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in a way that also indicates that you want to share that same kindness,
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empathy, or generosity with them in the future,
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you can use I'm indebted. To do that, we use the structure I'm indebted to...
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And then the individual, for example,
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I'm indebted to my sister for guiding me through some of the most difficult
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moments in my life.
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Now that you have six new phrases to fully express your gratitude,
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let's finish with three creative ways to put all of this into practice.
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Tip number one is to use intensifiers words,
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such as forever eternally,
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extremely intensify,
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the overall sense of gratitude that you want to express. For example,
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I'm forever grateful for the kindness and support of my neighbor when our house
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was robbed.
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Tip number two for putting your gratitude into practice is to create a
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gratitude journal. In all the hustle and bustle of our daily lives,
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it's easy to lose sight of the things that we're grateful for,
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and instead be overwhelmed by the negatives that surround us.
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Starting a gratitude journal not only allows you to use this new language,
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but also counterbalance those negative impacts.
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One common recommendation for implementing a gratitude journal is to set aside
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three to five minutes a day,
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and simply write down a few things that you feel that sense of gratitude
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for. And you can use all of these sentence starters to help you.
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In fact, you could have them listed at the top of a page,
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so they're easy to reference and they help you think about what you're grateful
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for in that moment that you sit down to reflect.
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And finally tip number three for how to put gratitude into practice is to write
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a note or a letter.
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Never underestimate the power of a handwritten note.
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The next time you want to show gratitude towards someone,
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consider writing them a handwritten note, or if necessary an email.
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You'd be surprised how rare this practice is and how
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uplifting it can be for the receiver. When you sit down to write that note,
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you can use some of these sentence starters to help you express what you're
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grateful for. And now to finish this lesson today, I have two questions for you.
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So you can immediately practice some of the phrases that you've learned today.
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Question one,
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which phrases from today's lesson are you most excited to begin using
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in your English practice?
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Give me an example of one of them and include what you're grateful for.
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And question number two, take a moment to reflect on the past year,
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what is a past experience or an individual that you're feeling grateful for
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and how would you express that?
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Choose one of the six phrases you've learned today.
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And if you'd like share your example with me in the comments below as
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always, if you found today's lesson useful to you, I would love to know.
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And you can tell me in one extremely simple way,
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give this a us a thumbs up here on YouTube, and while you're at it,
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subscribe to this channel.
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So you never miss one of my Confident English lessons.
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Thank you so much for joining me. And I look forward to seeing you next time.
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