How to say thank you in Chinese

When starting to learn Chinese there are certain necessary phrases you need to learn first. And isn’t it better to start with the polite ones? So we’re going to start with a word second in importance only to ‘Ni Hao!’. A word you will hear frequently throughout your time in China (restaurants, transportation, taking pictures with other people’s babies, etc etc). So, now you can learn how to say thank you in Chinese audio in this post with us!

Today, we’ll learn several ways to say, “thank you!”.

Now, it’s important to learn several ways to say “thank you” in Chinese language learning, not only to achieve fluency, but also to understand when people are talking to you — people who may use one of several variations.  

谢谢 – Xiè xie

The tones for “xiè xie” are 4th and no tone respectively. 谢, means thanks, to thank.

谢谢 literally means, “Thank(s), thank(s)”. However, it is translated as “Thank you”.

You can also say “谢谢你!” (Xiè xie nǐ! – Thank you!), or the politer version “谢谢您!” (Xiè xie nin! – Thank you [formal]), which are variations of the phrase “xiè xie”. The two phrases are closer to the English counterpart “Thank you“ as they both followed by the word for you.

多谢 – Duō xiè

The tones for this phrase are the 1st tone, the flat tone, and 4th tone, the falling tone, respectively. The components of this phrase are 多 (duō – many) and 谢 (xiè – thank), which literally means “A lot of thanks”, but translated as “Thank you very much”.

我很感谢 – Wǒ hěn gǎn xiè

This phrase literally means “I (Wǒ) very (hěn) feel (gǎn) thanks (xiè)”, but is translated as “Thank you so much”. It is used to express one’s gratitude in special occasions, such as when someone is extremely helpful, caring or nice.

**Note: When there are two consecutive 3rd tones, the first 3rd tone changes to the 2nd tone, the rising tone, while the second 3rd tone remains 3rd tone. For example, the word wǒ (I) is 3rd tone; the word hěn (very) is also 3rd tone. However, when combined to form the phrase “wǒ hěn”, the first 3rd tone becomes a second tone. Confusing? You will get used to it in time.

When there are 3 or more consecutive 3rd tones, change each 3rd tone preceding the final 3rd tone into a 2nd tone. The phrase “Wǒ hěn gǎn xiè” (Thank you so much) is pronounced, Wó hén gǎn xiè. Notice that the first two 3rd tones are pronounced as 2nd tones.

Ok. Now time for pronunciation. No matter how hard it is, people will probably understand you. So, you’ve got that going for.

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