How to Congratulate Someone in English [and Celebrate Good News]

Hey,

it's Annmarie with Speak Confident English.

This is exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want

for your life and work in English.

What is the first thing you want to do or say when someone you love

gives you good news?

Like I just got a promotion.

I just got my dream job.

We just bought a house.

We're having a baby.

We're getting married.

Or what do you want to say?

When someone you love finishes a marathon after months of hard work and

training or finishes a stressful complex project at work

in all of those situations,

you want to congratulate someone,

all of us love those feel good moments when we can share in someone else's

happiness and excitement.

So how can you do that in English?

What can you say in addition to congratulations,

that is exactly what we're going to focus on in today's Confident English lesson

in this lesson,

you're going to learn casual and formal ways that you can congratulate someone.

We'll also talk about the differences between what we say when we congratulate

someone in the moment versus a speech.

And what we say in writing.

Plus I'll give you an easy-to follow formula that you can use for meaningful

heartfelt congratulations with three examples.

And finally,

at the end,

I'll share with you one happy situation when we don't say

congratulations,

but I'll let you know what you can say.

Instead,

Let's start with some common words and phrases you can use in the moment that

someone shares good news with you.

We'll start with casual language you could use in informal situations,

for example,

congrats,

which is short from congratulations.

That's fantastic,

or that's fantastic news.

That's awesome.

Congratulations.

I'm so excited to hear that that's wonderful news

and so on.

You can see the full list here,

and I've got more examples in the lesson,

on my website speakconfidentenglish.com.

Now,

when someone is really excited,

you'll definitely hear a combination of these words and phrases,

for example,

congratulations.

That's awesome.

I'm so excited for you or that's fantastic news.

I'm so happy for you now,

if it's a more formal situation,

for example,

responding to good news at a work meeting or on a teleconference call,

here are some things you can use.

Congratulations,

you deserve this success or congratulations.

You've earned this.

My sincere heartfelt or warmest.

Congratulations to you.

Congratulations on your accomplishment or congratulations on your success.

As I mentioned earlier,

those are common ways to immediately congratulate someone in the

moment that they share good news with you.

And it's usually done in speaking in a casual conversation

or in a work meeting.

We don't give a long speech.

We congratulate someone,

express our excitement,

and then usually we ask a series of questions to get more

information.

But what if you're asked to give a short speech or a toast to

someone,

maybe it's at a business meeting and you're asked to congratulate the team or a

colleague or at a dinner party.

Someone asks you to give a toast,

or if you want to send a card in the mail to someone and again,

express some of the happiness that you feel and how proud you are of someone's

accomplishments.

What can you say in a more formal speaking event or when

writing,

we tend to use this simple three step formula for giving

meaningful congratulations.

First,

we start with an exclamation of congratulations or a statement on how happy you

are,

and it's important to be specific on.

Why,

why do you feel happy for someone?

Or why are you congratulating them?

The more specific you are,

the more meaningful it is.

After expressing congratulations,

English speakers will then often include some kind of a compliment to

acknowledge someone's hard work or the success that they've earned.

And finally,

we end our congratulations with some focus on the future or an encouraging

comment.

And that is the common three step formula that we use.

Give your congratulations and state how happy you are about what happened.

Give a compliment on how hard someone has worked or the success that they've

earned and focus on the future with an encouraging comment.

Here is exactly what that formula might sound like

if you're congratulating someone in a toast or in a written note on a job

promotion:

Congratulations on getting the job promotion.

That's wonderful news.

You certainly deserve this promotion more than anyone I know.

After your years of dedication and hard work here's to you,

your promotion and all your future successes.

Did you notice those three steps?

I congratulated them on the news of their promotion.

I complimented their years of hard work and dedication,

and I focused on all their future successes.

Let's look at a second example.

That is a little more casual,

congrats on finishing your big project.

It was definitely a success due to your creativity and commitment.

And now I hope you get some much deserved time to relax again.

In this example,

I've started with my note,

congratulating them on something specific,

completing a big,

difficult project.

I provided a compliment by acknowledging their creativity and commitment.

And finally,

I focused on the future with an encouraging comment,

with the hope that they would get some much deserved rest.

Here's one more example we could use to follow that formula.

When you find out that someone,

you know,

and love is getting married.

Congratulations on your wedding announcement.

I am so excited for both of you,

and I know you'll have many happy years together.

As you can see that simple formula of congratulating someone or sharing how

happy you are and something specific,

complimenting them,

and then focusing on the future or giving an encouraging comment allows you to

express heartfelt,

meaningful congratulations to someone.

Now,

in a moment,

I'm going to share one happy situation when we don't use the word

congratulations.

But before we do,

if you want more examples of what you can say to someone to congratulate them on

good news.

For example,

if someone just got their dream job,

if someone tells you they've just bought their first home or they're having a

baby,

maybe they've accomplished something that they've wanted to do for years.

I have more examples available for you in my online lesson.

And you can get a link to that lesson just below this video.

And now let's talk about birthdays in my family.

Birthdays are definitely a big deal and they're worthy of celebration,

but one word we don't use in English when someone is having a

birthday is congratulations.

We say,

congratulations for almost everything else,

having a baby,

getting engaged,

celebrating a work anniversary and so on.

But for birthdays,

we keep it simple with happy birthday,

warmest wishes for you on your birthday or many happy wishes on your

birthday.

Now that you know how to congratulate someone in English,

I've got a challenge for you using the language that you learned in this lesson

today.

I want you to tell me,

how would you congratulate your best friend who just got a job

promotion and number two,

how would you congratulate a family member who has spent months

training for a marathon?

And they finally did it.

You can share your examples with me in the comments below the video.

This is a great opportunity to practice some of the language and that easy

to use formula that you learned about today.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

If you found this lesson useful to you,

I would love to know,

and you can tell me in three simple ways,

number one,

give this video a thumbs up on YouTube and subscribe to this channel.

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Number two,

you can share it with friends or coworkers on Facebook.

And if you know someone who would love to communicate more confidently in

English,

you can send this directly by email as well.

Once again,

thanks for joining me.

And I'll see you next time for your Confident English lesson.