“Thanks” and “You’re Welcome” (Common Options in Spoken Italian)

“Thanks” is something we need to say no matter what language we speak. It’s a kind word and sure we always want to be polite with people. But how do you say “thank you” and “you’re welcome” in Italian?

Keep on reading and you’ll learn: 

• 3 common ways to say “thanks” in Italian
• How to say “you’re welcome” as a native speaker
• The verb “to thank” in Italian
• Examples of real-life situations

“Thank you” in Italian

How many times do you say “thank you” in a day? I bet it’s quite a few. So this word is a must-know when you learn a new language.

Let’s see three very common options to thank people in Italian. 

Popular Ways to Thank People (in Italian) 

You can say “thank you” in many ways, but these are the most frequent ones in spoken Italian: 

1. GRAZIE = thanks
2. GRAZIE MILLE = thanks so much
3. MOLTE GRAZIE = many thanks

You can use these options in both formal or informal situations. Check their pronunciation below.

You can also use the word “grazie” for replying politely.

For example, if someone offers you a cup of tea, a coffee, or a cake, you can answer: “sì, grazie” (if you accept) or “no, grazie” (if you turn it down).

“You’re Welcome” in Italian

How to Reply to “thanks” 

To say “you’re welcome” in Italian, you can use one of the following expressions which all very common in conversations. 

Note that the fourth one is only for informal situations while the last it’s formal.

1. PREGO 
2. DI NIENTE
3. NON C’E’ DI CHE
4. FIGURATI (Informal)
5. SI FIGURI (Formal)

Listen to the audio to get used to their sound.

The Italian Verb “to Thank” 

You’ve learned some basic ways to say “thank you” and “you’re welcome” in Italian so now we can look at some more complex sentences.

First of all, “ringraziare”  is the Italian verb “to thank” and it’s always followed by the name of the person you’re thankful, for example:

• RINGRAZIO LA MIA AMICA= I thank my friend
• RINGRAZIO MARIA = I thank Maria

If you use a pronoun to replace the name of the person, you need to add it at the end of the verb (in the infinitive form).

• RINGRAZIARMI = to thank me
• RINGRAZIARTI = to thank you
• RINGRAZIARLO/LA = to thank him/her
• RINGRAZIARCI = to thank us
• RINGRAZIARVI = to thank you
• RINGRAZIARLI/LE = to thank them

However you can’t use the verb in the infinitive form when speaking Italian.

You need to conjugate it, but let’s keep it simple for now. 

Instead of going through the whole conjugation of this verb, I’ll show you only what you need in a conversation. 

So if you want to thank someone, just say the following (note that the pronoun goes before the verb in this case):

• TI RINGRAZIO = I thank you (Informal)
• LA RINGRAZIO = I thank you (Formal)
• VI RINGRAZIO = I thank you (plural)

Now let’s add a little bit more to help you build your conversation skills.

If you want to specify the reason why you are thanking a person, you need to use one of the following two prepositions afterwards: 

1. PER = literally means for
2. DI = it has the same meaning as of
   
   So you have to make your phrase using the below structure:

1. Subject 
2. Verb RINGRAZIARE (conjugated according to the subject)
3. the thanked person 
4. preposition PER/DI
5. a noun 

Note that you can also use a verb after the prepositions “per/di”.

However, today I’ll only use examples with nouns. You can explore the verbs later on, when you’ve got more familiar with verb conjugations.

So let’s use the above structure in a real context:

Io (Subject) + ringrazio (verb) + Maria (thanked person) + per + il regalo (noun meaning “the present“)

And if you use a pronoun instead of the name of the person?

Then you only need to remember to put the pronoun in front of the verb, like this:

Io ti ringrazio per il regalo.

NO MORE THEORY AND LET’S LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES

It looks a little bit too theoretical, doesn’t it?

So let’s look at some examples to make it more practical.

After all, you just want to learn to speak Italian, not getting lost into too many details.

You can find below 3 common situations where you’ll need to say thank you to someone in Italian.

EXAMPLE #1

Someone has invited you to a party, to a wedding or to a dinner/lunch in their house. 

What’s the first thing you reply to them? Probably it’s “thanks for inviting me“.

So in Italian, you can say:

1. Ti ringrazio per l’invito
2. Ti ringrazio dell’invito

or simply:

1. Grazie per l’invito
2. Grazie dell’invito

You can choose the option that you prefer as they are basically all the same.

EXAMPLE #2 

If a friend calls you on the phone to ensure that you are doing well, how do you thank them?

You can say one of the following:

1. Ti ringrazio per la telefonata
2. Ti ringrazio della telefonata
3. Grazie per la telefonata
4. Grazie della telefonata 

EXAMPLE # 3

If you’ve received a present, this is the way you can say “thank you” in Italian:

1. Ti ringrazio per il regalo
2. Ti ringrazio del regalo
3. Grazie per il regalo
4. Grazie del regalo

REMEMBER THAT THINGS CHANGE IN FORMAL SITUATIONS

If you are in a formal situation, things change and you need to use the pronoun “LA” instead of “TI”.

So the above example become:

1. La ringrazio per l’invito/dell’invito
2. La ringrazio per la telefonata/della telefonata
3. La ringrazio per il regalo/del regalo

Let’s Wrap Up

These are the main takeaways from this lesson. 

1. How to Say: “Thank you” in Italian

You can say “thanks” in Italian in 3 different ways:

1. GRAZIE
2. GRAZIE MILLE
3. MOLTE GRAZIE

2. Italian Verb “to thank” 

The verb to thank in Italian is “RINGRAZIARE” and it’s followed by the name of the thanked person, like for example:

• RINGRAZIO LA MIA AMICA
• RINGRAZIO MARIA

“Thank you” + Personal Pronouns

With pronouns, the structure is a little bit different, as it goes before the verb. Remember the followings that can help you out in conversations:

• TI RINGRAZIO
• LA RINGRAZIO
• VI RINGRAZIO

3. Prepositions “Per” and “Di” 

To specify the reason why you are thanking someone, you need to use the prepositions “per” or “di”.

So you have to follow one of the two below structures:

1. Subject (optional) + “ringraziare” (conjugated according to the subject) + person thanked + per/di + noun
2. Subject (optional) + pronoun + “ringraziare” (conjugated according to the subject) + per/di + noun

   For example:

1. (Io) ringrazio Maria per il regalo
2. (Io) ti ringrazio per il regalo

4. “You’re Welcome” in Italian 

What if you have to reply to a “thank you”? In that case, here you have some options:

1. PREGO
2. DI NIENTE
3. NON C’E’ DI CHE
4. FIGURATI
5. SI FIGURI

That was all for today’s lesson! Now you know how to thank people in Italian or reply to a thank you 🙂

You can also read:

FORMAL vs INFORMAL ITALIAN: WHICH ONE SHOULD YOU USE?