The basic expression for saying “thank you” in German is danke, but there are other phrases you can use to express your gratitude, or to respond to someone who thanks you. Here are some of the most useful to learn.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Basic Thanksgiving
Step 1. Say danke
Danke is a word that literally translated means “thank you”.
- It is pronounced "danche", with the accent on the first syllable.
- Danke is a term related to dank, which means "thank you" or "gratitude".
Step 2. Use Ich danke Ihnen or Ich danke dir
These expressions mean "thank you" and "thank you".
- Ich is the German word for "I".
- In these sentences, danke is the conjugate form of the verb danken, which means "to thank".
- Written with a capital initial, Ihnen is the formal pronoun for giving "you". Dir instead is informal and means "you".
- The first expression is pronounced "isc danche iinen".
- The second is pronounced "isc danche dir".
Step 3. Use cleats in response to an offer
If you use danke, you are actually saying "no thanks". So better to use cleats if you want to accept an offer, in the sense of "yes, thank you".
The pronunciation is "bitte"
Method 2 of 3: Heartfelt Thanksgiving
Step 1. Thank someone sincerely by saying danke schön or danke sehr
Both expressions are used to give more emphasis to thanks, although danke sehr is a bit stronger than danke schön.
- The term schön alone means "beautiful", "cute". In the expression danke schön, however, it does not have to be translated literally.
- The term sehr alone means "much". Therefore, the phrase danke sehr can easily be translated "many thanks".
- The pronunciation of danke schön is "also give scion".
- The pronunciation of danke sehr is "also give seer".
Step 2. Give thanks a thousand times with tausend dank! This expression can be literally translated as "thank you very much!"
- Tausend is the German word for "one thousand".
- Here, dank means "thank you".
- It is pronounced "tàusend danc".
Step 3. Use danke vielmals or vielen dank to express heartfelt thanks
- Danke vielmals translates as "many thanks". Danke comes from the basic expression "thank you", while vielmals means "a lot".
- Vielen dank is also an expression that can be translated as "many thanks". Vielen means "a lot", and dank is the German word for "thank you".
- The first expression is pronounced "danche fiilmals".
- The second is pronounced "fiilen danc".
Step 4. Express your gratitude with Ich bin Ihnen sehr dankbar für
Translated, this expression becomes “I am very grateful to you for…”.
- Ich means "I" and Ihnen, with a capital letter, is the formal pronoun to give "You". You can also replace Ihnen with dir, to be informal.
- The term bin means "are".
- The expression sehr dankbar translates as "very grateful".
- The word für means "for".
- Complete the sentence with the thing you are grateful for.
- The pronunciation of this expression is more or less "isc bin iinen seer darencbaar fiùr".
Step 5. Offer your gratitude with Mit tiefer Dankbarkeit
This expression means "with deep gratitude".
- The term mit means "with".
- Dankbarkeit means "gratitude". Combined with tiefer, the expression tiefer Dankbarkeit indicates a "deep gratitude".
- This sentence is pronounced "mit tiifer darencbarcait".
Method 3 of 3: Respond to Thanks
Step 1. Use gern geschehen
This is the standard expression to say "you're welcome", "it's a pleasure", "nothing for that" or "nothing".
- Gerne means "willingly".
- Geschehen means "to happen", "to happen" or "to take place".
- A literal translation would not make sense, however the message that this expression expresses is that it has been a pleasure for you to do what the interlocutor is thanking you for.
- The pronunciation is "ghern ghescéhen".
Step 2. Just say gerne
A more informal way to say "please" is to use only gerne, which means "willingly".
