Thank You in French: Different Ways to Express Gratitude

The most basic way to say "thank you" in French is merci.

... but you probably knew that, right?

Well, what if you what you want to say is more along the lines of "thanks a ton" or "no, really, I owe you my life"?

French has just as many ways to express gratitude as English does. We'll get into them in this post. Without further ado:

Merci, the most common way to say thank you in French

Let’s start with the basics. Merci

is the universal way to say “thank you” in French. Everyone knows it, and everyone uses it—daily. You can say it to your waiter, your boss, your grandma, your barista, your cat (maybe?). Really, you can't go wrong with this word. If in doubt, merci.

Pronunciation tip: /mɛʁ.si/ — That French r is soft and throaty. Don’t try to overdo it—just keep your throat relaxed.

Merci can be used to say thank you, but also to ask someone to do something with the phrase “merci de” as in the fourth example sentence below:

You can use merci with just about anyone. It's polite, versatile, and always appreciated.

Aaaaaand now on to the more interesting stuff:

Other phrases used to express gratitude in French

French isn’t just about merci. Depending on how grateful you feel—or how formal, poetic, or playful you want to sound—you have plenty of options.

Let’s break them down by tone.

Casual / Friendly / Informal

There are many different ways to say thank you casually in French. Mind you, the below phrases might also be used in more formal contexts such as the workplace. When in doubt, just use “merci.”

Example sentences:

Formal / Polite / Professional

The below sentences are used in formal settings. Most are only for written texts such as email. Again, when in doubt, mimic people around you or just revert to a simple “merci” to avoid any faux pas.

Example sentences:

Grammar structures used when saying thanks in French

French speakers often use merci in combination with different grammar structures depending on what (or whom) they’re thanking. In particular, there are three structures that you're likely to run into:

The little prepositions (de, pour, à) really matter in French—using the wrong one can change the meaning, or just sound off. When in doubt, mimic the examples below.

Examples in action:

How to respond to merci

If someone says merci, don’t just stare at them 😅 You need a proper reply! Here are your best options.

And here's some example dialogues featuring these phrases:

[Video example] A native French speaker saying thanks

As mentioned—and as you likely knew going into this article—merci is one of the most commonly used French phrases. You can see it in action here: a host is thanking her audience for watching an extract from LCP, a French parliamentary channel.

If you watch YouTube with Migaku, you’ll see interactive subtitles: tap on merci, or any other word, and you can see what it means. If you stumble into a word that seems useful, you can just click the orange button in the top-right corner of the dictionary to instantly extract the clip (screenshot), audio, and subtitle into a flashcard.

And you're all set! Migaku uses a spaced-repetition algorithm to periodically nudge you to review flashcards you make, ensuring you eventually commit any words you are interested in to memory.

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Anyway, what we really want to say is:

Now you know that the phrase merci exists... but before you can use it and its counterparts correctly, you'll need to see them used in context. A lot. That was a troubling reality even just ten years ago, but it is no longer the case today: you can interact with French TV, YouTube, podcasts, and tons of media, no matter where you are in the world.

These are the best teachers available to you.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that...

Bonne chance, and merci infiniment for reading!