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DO NOT say “you’re welcome”! Respond to “thank you”

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to English With Lucy. Today, I am going to be teaching you all of the ways that you can respond to thank you. Now you’re welcome or you are welcome is a perfectly valid way to respond to a thank you.

But I think it’s a little bit overused, especially by learners of English. It’s completely natural. You find one way you like to say things and then you say it again, and again, and again. The purpose of this video is to expand your vocabulary bank, so that you have many more options when somebody thanks you. So this video is going to be perfect for improving your vocabulary. But if you want to improve your listening and your pronunciation even further, than I highly recommend listening to audio books.

It’s something I mention in a lot of my videos, but I mention it a lot because I know it works. I advise you to take a book that you already have, a book that you’ve maybe already read and download the audio version and listen to it whilst you are reading. Just reading alone will not help you with your pronunciation because English is not a phonetic language. If you are hearing the word as you read it, your brain will make the connection, and next time you see that word, you will know how to pronounce it. And next time you hear that word, you will know how it’s spelt.

Let’s begin with informal or casual phrases that you can use with your friends and family.

The first one is, you’re welcome. But let’s expand on that a little bit. If you really want to emphasise that their thanks has been taken into consideration, you can say, you’re very welcome. This is quite a British one, I think, for example, thank you so much for packing my shopping for me. Oh, you’re very welcome. Number two, this one is slightly more American. It’s, no problem, no problem. Bear in mind that the older generation seem to dislike this one. So keep that in your head if a slightly older person is thanking you. An example, thanks for the help today.

No problem, I enjoyed helping you. Number three, the third way to respond to thank you is, thank you. (laughs) But this one is all about the emphasis. If somebody thanks you but you think that they should be thanked, you can say, no, thank you. Or just, thank you. For example, thanks for accepting the invitation.

Thank you. I’m emphasising that really, I should be thanking them because they invited me somewhere. Number four, this one is much more formal. If we say it in its entire form it’s, the pleasure is mine. The pleasure is mine. You can also shorten it to make it less formal by saying, my pleasure, or simply, pleasure, that’s very casual. For example, thanks for taking the parcel in for me. Pleasure. That’s a short way of saying it was my pleasure, or the pleasure is mine, or was mine. Number five is a very friendly one. Only use this with people you know well. It’s, I know you’d do the same for me. For example, I’d like to thank you for looking after my cat so well. The response, I know you’d do the same for me. I know you’d look after my cat, so I looked after yours.

Even Stevens. Number six is much more casual. And it’s slightly less heartfelt. You might say this if you don’t really care, or if somebody is thanking you for doing something that you might not have wanted to do. But depending on the intonation and the tone of voice, it can also be quite warm. It’s, that’s all right. So I could say, thank you for picking me up from the station. I could say either, that’s all right. Or, that’s all right. My tone of voice is telling you everything you need to know there. Number seven is a very casual one. It’s, no worries, no worries. In use, thanks for letting me know that my car alarm was going off. No worries, I thought I’d better tell you. The next one is very British.

It’s quite self-deprecating. It’s, don’t mention it. For example, thank you so much for bringing the desert. Oh, don’t mention it. It was a lot of effort to bring dessert probably. And they probably do want you to mention it, but we just say, don’t mention it because, oh, it was nothing. Number nine is very heartfelt. It is, it was the least I could do. For example, thank you for visiting me in hospital. Oh, it was the least I could do. Again, very British, very self-deprecating. Number 10 is quite casual.

It’s, anytime. Thank you for stopping by, oh, anytime. It’s quite a generous response, I like this one. Number 11 is a really American one. I hardly ever hear it used in the UK. But I thought I should teach it to you because British English is not the only English, it’s good to know about all of the different slang phrases. And yes, this is a very casual one, it is, sure. A one word answer to say you’re welcome.

Thank you for thinking of me, sure. It often goes hand in hand with no problem. Sure, no problem. Number 12 is, oh, it was nothing. Again, another self-deprecating one. It’s a way of saying that what they are thanking you for was no extra effort. Thank you for picking my kids up from school. Oh, it was nothing, my kids already needed picking up. No extra effort here. Now I want to talk to you about four more formal ways of responding to thank you. And these are more likely to be used in business situations, or maybe in a shop or restaurant. Number one is very British, it’s quite old fashioned, and it is, much obliged. The full formal way of saying it is, I’m very much obliged to you. For example, thank you so much doctor, I’m very much obliged to you.

This is shortened down to, I actually experienced this one in use the other day at a shoe shop. I said, thank you so much after paying and he said, “Much obliged.” And I thought, oh, I haven’t heard that phrase in a while, I’m gonna put it in a video. The guy had an amazing Cockney accent as well, he was really nice, really helpful. Great shoes, they had a gel bottom. Number two is a more formal way of saying you’re welcome it is, you’re most welcome. Now, this does sound very posh.

So I wouldn’t use it willy-nilly, willy-nilly means without careful thought, or planning. I wouldn’t use it willy-nilly. But if you’re in a formal situation, for example, I thanked my solicitor on the phone the other day for sending me some forms. And she replied with, you’re most welcome because she’s quite a formal person, and it was a formal legal situation. Number three is, we appreciate your business or we appreciate your custom. Custom if you’re talking to a customer and business if you’re talking to a business client. For example, thank you for sending the sample so promptly. We appreciate your business. And the last one, definitely a business one, it’s, I’m happy to help. For example, thank you for helping me carry the coffees to the office.

Oh, I’m happy to help. Right, that’s it for today’s lesson. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you learned something.