For my mom, who sacrificed everything so that her children should want for nothing - merci maman, obrigada mamãe, je t'aime!
We've previously touched on the importance of the word bonjour. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to pass along a heartfelt thanks to you for joining P'Niche on this blog adventure, a true love letter to Paris, inspired by you, my dear friends, far and wide. So with MY true thanks to you, let's have a quick peek at the very many ways to say thank you... MERCI...
We can thank our friends, the Romans, for the word merci where it is rooted in its original meaning, which was "wages."
As we move forward to medieval times, a "grand merci" came to mean a great favor someone had bestowed upon you. Soon it was shortened to our simpler form of thanks for the favor, "merci."
The french inifinitive of the verb is remercier, or to "to thank".
To properly pronounce our lovely word of thanks, it is mehr-SEE.
You can hear several native French speakers stating the word here in this clip.
Don't be shy to listen many times and practice alone - practice makes perfect and your good manners may make you a French friend or two!
Ok let's get to it - some of the various ways to thanks someone en français.
Merci - Classic and can't go wrong - "Thank You."
Merci Beaucoup
mehr-see boh-COO
Thank you very much
Easy Breezy, right? Let's keep going...
Merci Madame
mehr-SEE mah-DAMM
Thank you miss / madame
Merci Monsieur
mehr-SEE muh-syuh
Thank you sir
Merci à tous
mehr-SEE ah toos
Thank you all
Remember the verb form we saw above for giving thanks? Great!
Je vous remercie (formal)
zhuh voo ruh-mehr-SEE
I thank you
Je te remercie (informal)
zhuh tuh ruh-mehr-SEE
I thank you
Avec tous mes remerciements
avez too mayh ruh-mehr-see-uh-mehn
With all my thanks
Remerciez-le (la) de ma part
Ruh-merh-see-ay luh (lah) duh mah par
Thank him (her) for me
Merci mille fois
mehr-see meel FWAH
Thanks a thousand times
Mille mercis
Meel mehr-SEE
A thousand thanks
Merci infiniment
mehr-see een-feen-ih-mehn
Thanks a million
C'est vraiment gentil de votre part
Seh vray-mehn zhahn-TEE duh vuh-truh PAR
That is so kind of you
Merci du fond du coeur
mehr-SEE doo fohn doo kehr
Thank you from the bottom of my heart
Comment vous remercier?
kuh-muhn voo ruh-mehr-see-ay?
How can I thank you?
Merci pour tout!
mehr-see poor toot!
Thanks for everything!
Merci Bien
mehr-see bee-yehn
Thanks well (meaning thanks a lot)
Merci d'avance
mehr-see dah-vahn-suh
Thanks in advance (for when someone will do you a favor soon)
Je suis très reconnaissant(e)
zhuh swee treh ruh-cohn-nay-sahn(tuh)
I am very grateful for you
Merci pour ... les fleurs
mehr-see poor ... lay fleuhr
Thank you for ... the flowers
Merci de m'avoir aidé
mehr-see duh m'ah-vwahr ay-day
Thanks for helping me
Trying to land that dream French job? (Yeah, me too!). You'll need to sign off your notes with something like this:
Je vous prie de recevoir l'expression de mes salutations distinguées.
Very fancy pants way to say, "thanks for reading my letter, boss, all respect to ya!"
How do "cool kids" say thanks?!
Mci - thank you (via text message)
Ci-Mer - thank you in Verlan slang (when words are cut in half with the last syllable put first). Merci becomes Ci-Mer.
So that's that, P'Nichers, over 20 ways to say thank you (and trust me, there are hundreds more!) . Thanks again (merci encore) for joining me on this Parisian adventure et à bientôt!
What can I say except merci Christina!