Ciao a tutti! Sono Consuelo. Hi everybody! I’m Consuelo. |
Welcome to ItalianPod101.com’s Italiano in tre minuti. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Italian. |
In the last lesson, we learned how to introduce ourselves in Italian. As good manners are a must everywhere, today we learn how to thank people. |
Pronti? Are you ready? Allora cominciamo, so let’s start! |
There are several ways to thank someone, let’s start with the easiest, it is just a word: |
Grazie. |
(One more time, slowly: Grazie). |
Grazie means “thank you”. |
When saying “thank you very much” you just need to add tante, or mille. |
Grazie tante.Or grazie mille. |
(One more time, slowly: Grazie tante. Or, grazie mille.) |
Tante means “a lot” and mille means “a thousand”. |
“Thank you a thousand times!” |
During the last lesson we mentioned both the informal and the formal way of speaking Italian. In this case if you want to be more formal when thanking someone you should say: |
La ringrazio. |
(One more time, slowly: La ringrazio.) |
That was the formal way to say “thank you” when referring to Lei, the formal person for “you”. Ringraziare is the infinitive form of the verb “to give thanks” and “to be grateful”. |
How to answer? It’s easy, there are basically two different ways to do it! |
The first is: |
Prego. |
(One more time, slowly: Prego.) |
Prego means “you are welcome”. |
The other way to say “you are welcome” is the expression: |
Non c’è di che. |
(One more time, slowly: Non c’è di che.) |
Meaning “there’s nothing about it”. |
So when someone saying grazie to you, we can simply reply with: |
Prego or non c’è di che. |
Sometimes we can also hear them both like: |
Prego, non c’è di che. |
For example, if someone is giving you something… |
(someone in the studio gives me a newspaper or a book ) |
Grazie mille. |
Prego. (voice over of the other person) |
Now it’s time for Consuelo’s tips. |
Remember, when in doubt whenever it is more appropriate to use grazie or La ringrazio, keeping it simple is always your safest bet. You don’t have to worry about formal or informal situations; grazie can be used with just about anyone, anywhere at anytime. So, grazie mille a tutti! Thank you very much everybody! |
Do you know what arrivederci means? In our next lesson you’ll learn this and more other greetings in Italian! |
Ciao e grazie, alla prossima lezione! |
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