We use expressions with thank you and thanks to respond to something politely and to show we are grateful for something. Thanks is more informal than thank you. We often add other words to make the response stronger:
Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you very much (indeed).
Thanks very much (indeed).
Thanks a lot.
Not: Thank you a lot.
We use thank you and thanks to answer a polite question or to reply to a comment:
A:
How are you today?
B:
I’m fine, thank you.
A:
Your hair looks good.
B:
Thanks very much.
We use thank you and thanks to accept or receive something and no, thank you or no, thanks to refuse something.
Compare
accepting |
refusing |
A:
Would you like a biscuit?
B:
Yes, please. Thanks.
|
A:
Would you like a biscuit?
B:
No, thanks.
|
Warning:
Thank you on its own as a reply to an offer means that we accept:
A:
Would you like some more soup?
B:
Thank you. (This means yes.)
We use thank you and thanks to say that we are grateful for something:
Thank you for the flowers.
[the phone is ringing; A offers to answer it]
A:
I’ll get the phone.
B:
Thanks.
[from a radio phone-in programme]
Frank, thank you very much indeed for joining us on the programme this morning.
We use thank you even when we are receiving something that is ours:
[in a shop, at the checkout]
A:
Here’s your change.
B:
Thank you.
In informal speaking, we can use cheers or (very informally) ta to saythanks:
A:
There’s a coffee for you in the kitchen.
B:
Cheers. (or Ta very much!) (very informal)
Thank you for + -ing form
Thank you for or thanks for can be followed by the -ing form:
Thank you for helping us.
Thanks for sending a card.
Thank you as a noun
We can use thank you as a noun, often with big:
A big thank you to all those who helped with the sale.
Thank as a verb
We can use thank as a verb, always with an object and often with for + noun and for + -ing:
I thank you for your advice. (quite formal)
We would like to thank everyone for their generosity.
I’d like to thank you for coming here tonight.
Thank God
We say thank God, not thanks God, when we are pleased that something has happened which we feared would not happen, or vice versa:
Thank God you’re home! I was so worried that you’d had an accident.
Not: Thanks God you’re home.
Replying to thanks
We reply to thanks with expressions such as you’re welcome (more formal), not at all, no problem. We don’t use please as an answer to thank you:
A:
Thanks for the flowers. You shouldn’t have.
B:
You’re welcome.
Not: Please. or Nothing.
A:
Thank you for fixing the internet connection.
B:
No problem.
Thanks to
We often use thanks to to mean ‘because of’. It is more common in writing than speaking:
[from a newspaper report; Ipswich is a town in England]
An Ipswich man is back home from hospital and planning his summer wedding, thanks to a life-saving heart transplant.