You bet. Ways to reply to "Thank you". I have to admit that I'm often too lazy to reply to a "thank you" for my correction of notebook entries (too much of a hassle) and to friends/exchange partners w

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Miriam

You bet. Ways to reply to "Thank you".

I have to admit that I'm often too lazy to reply to a "thank you" for my correction of notebook entries (too much of a hassle) and to friends/exchange partners when I answered a question about German. In German, the natural answer would be "nichts zu danken" ("nothing to thank for", well, if there is really nothing to thank for, do I still need to mention it?), "gern geschehen" ("it happened willingly"). Other phrases would be "keine Ursache" ("no cause"), "dafür nicht" ("not for this"; in Northern regions also "da nicht für" "this not for"). You might have noticed that the literal translations of these polite expressions sound a bit odd in English and of course they actually just mean "You're welcome, don't mention it".

But for me as a non-native English speaker, some of the English ways to reply to a thank you sound a bit puzzling. Especially, "you bet" and "no worries". Is "you bet" American and "no worries" Australian? Also, I saw a video called "17 ways to say you're welcome" and there they also had expressions like "any time" and "no problem-o" (yes, with a hyphen and an o).

So, my question to native and non-native English speakers: What is your preferred way to reply to a thank you? Is it an expression only common in one certain region? Are there expressions that you wouldn't use and why?

Comentarios · 11

Here's my arsenal of replies for a "thank you." I'm Californian for reference.

-"No worries."

-"You're welcome."

-"Don't worry about it."

-"Anytime."

-"Eh, its no big deal."

-"No problem."

-"No need to thank me."

-"Ah, its nothing."

-"It's my pleasure."

-"Its nothing, no te preocupes." (More useful here in Socal than other places)

-A simple nod of acknowledgement

"No worries" is very common in America, although I would say that it makes more sense to say it after someone apologizes than after someone thanks you. It makes sense after "thank you" if you're thanking someone for doing something difficult or unpleasant or something, and you feel bad that they had to do something they didn't want to do or shouldn't have had to do. Something like:

"Thanks for handling that for me. I know it was a lot of work."

"No worries. It really wasn't so bad."

It wouldn't make sense to say "no worries" if someone thanked you for something small or non-troubling, like "Thanks for visiting our store!" or "Thanks for the compliment!"

Americans do in fact sometimes say "no problem-o." I have no idea why. It's very colloquial, and a little bit humorous, but still rather common, especially in some regions. "Any time" is also common, but again, it only makes sense in some circumstances, because it implies that you would happily do the same thing for the person again. For example:

"Thanks for giving me a ride!"

"Any time!" (meaning "I'd be happy to give you a ride again in the future, if you need one.")

I agree that "you bet" is odd. I think it's simply evolved from the meaning of "you bet" that means "it would be safe for you to place a bet on it," or, in other words, "it's definitely true." "Is he good at his job?" "You bet he is!" (You could safely wager money on it.) At this point, "you bet" is simply used as a way to strongly affirm something. I'm guessing that after "thank you," the idea is to affirm that one was happy/willing to do whatever one is being thanked for.

(I'm not a very colloquial sort of person, so I pretty much always just say "no problem" or "sure" -- which I guess is similar to "you bet" in that it just confirms "I was willing to do it.")

I've heard that "you bet" one can use only with friends or well known people.

My favourite is sure thing, but most of the times I say no problem, sometimes you're welcome.

For me, I usually say "no worries". I have said "anytime" and I've even said "no worries, any time".

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