Writing "Thank You" letters and emails

It's polite to write a "thank you" letter each time you receive a present. You can also write emails to thank people, but it's still considered more "personal" to write a short letter by hand.

Layout and format

"Thank you" letters can be quite short, and fill one or two sides of A5 paper (one side of A5 paper is half the size of a sheet of A4 or office paper). You can write your address in the top left hand corner of the paper, but you don't need to write the recipient's address. You can also write the date under your address.

You normally start the letter "Dear…" followed by the name of the person you are writing to.

In the first paragraph (which can be short), you should thank the person for the gift and say something complimentary about it:

"Thank you for the book tokens. I'm looking forward to choosing a book with them."

"Thank you for the wall calendar. It will be very useful to me this year!"

"Thank you very much for the beautiful soaps. I'm looking forward to relaxing in a hot bath!"

"Thank you very much for the lovely photo frame. It will look very nice on my chest of drawers."

"Thank you very much for the elegant scarf you sent me. It's exactly what I need for special occasions."

In the second paragraph, you can give general news about how you spent the holiday period (or how you spent your birthday if you have received a birthday present). You could also show interest in the other person's holiday.

"We had a very quiet and relaxing Christmas at home. The kids ate too many chocolates as usual, so now we're all on a diet! I hope your Christmas was as good, and that you were able to relax for a few days."

In the third paragraph you can talk about more general family or personal news.

In the final paragraph, you should thank the person again for their gift, and give your wishes for the New Year if applicable. (See below for useful phrases for ending the letter.)

Useful phrases

You should start your letter with "Dear" and follow it by the person's first name:

"Dear Tom" or "Dear Uncle Bill"

You can end your letter with any of these phrases:

"With love (from)", "With much love (from)", "Lots of love (from)" or "Love (from)" followed by your name on the next line. The "from" in these phrases is optional.

You normally end the letter with repeated thanks and wishes for the New Year:

"Thank you again for my present."
"Thank you again for such a thoughtful gift."
"Wishing you a happy New Year."
"With all my best wishes for a happy New Year."
"Wishing you all the best in 2006."

An example thank you letter

7, London Rd
Manchester

30 December, 2005

Dear Uncle Bill

Thank you very much for the French cookery book you gave me. The recipes look wonderful, and I'll certainly enjoy using it.

I hope you and Auntie Susan had a good Christmas. We stayed at home, but had a couple of day trips out nearby. Our local theatre put on a production of "A Christmas Carol", which was fun.

I go back to University next week, and this year I'm going to have to study hard for the final exams. I've really enjoyed the course so far, but I'm not sure what to do once I get my degree. The University arranges career interviews, but I don't really have a clear idea of what I want to do. Hopefully it will all become clearer during the course of the year.

Thank you again for the lovely present, and Happy New Year!

With much love

Anna

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63 comments on “Writing "Thank You" letters and emails”

Ta Phuong Ky

Dear Sir,
This article, as well as your series of articles in Real Life Egnlish are good, and useful for my English.
Many thanks,
Best Regards,
Ky (Mr.)

Muhammad Ayoub Bhatti

Dear Sir,

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Thank you very much for spreading the knowledge world wide and very useful for the people in remote area (such as me).

Kind regards
Muhammad Ayoub Bhatti

Lutf

Thank you for your site i like it very much, i think i will learn more in this site. i very interested to in writing, so if u hae more please guide to get more infomations

Best regards

We also have information on writing on our sister site:
http://www.theenglishweb.com

Abdi

Dear Sir/Madam
I am very privelliged to come across this site.. it has been a tough time and it helped me to do my English exam.
I would thank for on behalf of millions.

Hamza

I want to highlight that it's nice to send a "Thank you" letter to the interviewer after the job interview, it will leave a good impression and will remind the interviewer about you.

kumar

Can you please provide some tips for writing good official emails?

Thanks,
Kumar

Have a look at our sister site:
http://www.theenglishweb.com

There's lots of information about using English at work and writing emails. There's also a business writing course and ebook with tips and examples for writing well.

kumar

Please help me in writing a mail for the following situation:-

I have completed a project with our team members. Our team lead sends an email congratulating me, saying "Great Job".

I want to reply him saying something like this "it was a good opportunity to work on such a good project", and saying "Would like to work with you in future also…".

Are there any additional good points that i can mention in the reply.

You can say:

Thank you for your email.
It was a good opportunity to work on such an interesting project, and I look forward to being able to work with you again in the future.

Best wishes

arzu

you use "i look forward to…" what is the meaning of this sentence when we add this to any other sentence

It just refers to a future action:

I look forward to hearing from you
I look forward to meeting you next week

Kate

I have been working in an american company while living in a foreign country. I leave here in about a month and would like to say thank you to everyone here. Some of them I know well but others I barely speak to. I'm not really sure what to say to them or what kind of gift I should leave for these strangers. Any suggestions on how to phrase a business goodbye/thank- you letter/gift would be appreciated. Thanks, kt.

I'm not sure I'd buy a gift for people I didn't know. On the other hand, you could definitely send an email around the company thanking people for the opportunity of working with them:

As you probably know, I'm leaving (name of company) on Friday, and I just wanted to thank you all for your help and support while I've been here. I've learned a lot about (name of country) while I've been here, and I've really enjoyed working with you. I hope we can keep in contact in the future.

With best wishes

(name)

Nam

I learned some from this lesson and even more from coments section.

Srimathi Krishnan

Im working with a MNC company , we all employees have contributed some amount and done a social activity, So i need to send a Thanks mail to all employees for their wonderfull contribution and support. Kindly help me.

Thank you to everyone who contributed towards our (name the social activity). Your support is greatly appreciated.

Best wishes
(Your name)

Jalpa

If someone has done my work faster then I expected then what kind of thank you email I should send?

Thank you so much for finishing the work. I appreciate your hard work.
Best wishes
(your name)

neena

Somebody sent me festival greeting card , how can i reciprocate officially.

Neena

Clare

neena » If it was something like a postcard, then you don't need to reply to it.

Narehs

Dear sir,
One of my friend gave some notes to study. I return that. I want to know how to write a thanking letter to her.
Thank you.

Clare

Narehs » Thank you for the study notes. They were very helpful.
Best wishes
Narehs

Kumar

Can you please help me writing an email for the following situation:

I had urgent requirement for money. My friend had given me money and helped me in that situation.

I want to say thanks to my friend saying the following ' Thank you ABC for YYY'

What phrase should YYY be filled with?

Thanks,
Kumar

Clare

Kumar » Thank you for lending me the money.

vasu

pls help me in sending offical mails to my employees with regard to happy christmas and new year , tto start with some quotes and mail to all employess in the company

Clare

vasu » If you are writing a simple holiday message, you could just write "Wishing you all a happy holiday!" (Then give your name)

kumar

I took break(due to fever) and came to office after a week. After i started working, my project manager says the following:

Happy to see you back working and i hope you healed well.

How should i respond in email?

Thanks,
Kumar

Clare

If your boss says this to you, you don't need to reply by email. Just say "Yes, thanks. I feel much better now."

fahad

my boss wrote to me this massege .."dear , i like to thank for your contribution in making my first six months in the company so enjoyable and for the assistance in bringing about positive change.i look forward to working with you throuhout 2009 to build on what in only the begining. thanks again and kind regard"

what do advise me for reply?

Clare

If your boss wrote this message to everyone, you don't need to reply. It's like a message to thank everyone in the company for their support. But if your boss only wrote to you, you should reply. Perhaps something like "I have greatly enjoyed working with you too, and look forward to helping you achieve our objectives in 2009."

Mary

Thank you for providing us with such useful info. I am looking forward to implement them whenever applicable.

Manish

One of my senior colleague has resigned from organization and he sent me following mail. I want to reply his mail want ot write that it was nice working with him, his knowledge n experience was very useful for me n company, somthing that sort of. Please help
His mail is as below:
This is to inform you that after long reflection upon the Medlife venture, I decided to sell my stake within that company to Randson and therefore terminate all relations with Medlife.

It goes without saying how much I appreciated your helping us during the whole start up phase of the business in India and also when this project became a reality.

Should you need anything from India I would be more than happy to reciprocate all your kindness and support .

Clare

It sounds like this is an email written to everyone in an organisation. You can reply with a brief email:

I was sorry to hear that you are leaving the organisation. I have enjoyed working with you, and your knowledge and experience has helped me enormously.

I wish you every success with your future plans.

Nirja

My friends and office clients has sent me a New year greeting card.
How can i reciprocate officialy and personaly by replying thankyou note to them

Clare

Thank you for your New Year's card.

I'd also like to wish you every success in the coming year.

Yours sincerely / Best wishes

(your name)

Mai

I wanna to send a thank you letter to my boss leaving his work ,,
I wanna to express my feelings and how much I respect him but in respectable and business way
Thanks alot

Clare

Have a look at the comment from Manish (above) and my reply. You can use my reply in your letter to your boss.

kamlapoddar

I received best wishes for marriage of my son. How to write thanks letter in personally and officially

Clare

We don't normally write in this occasion, as we usually either invite people (in which case these people then reply to us) or perhaps put an announcement in the newspaper (although this isn't so common any more). Perhaps you could write:
Thank you for your best wishes on the marriage of — and —-
(At this point you can perhaps invite the person to the wedding.)

Ola

how to anser below question?
"May I know if we stand some chance on my quote?"
Thanks

Clare

May I know if I stand any chance on my quote? / May I know if my quote stands any chance of being accepted?

Kutty

Please help me in writing a mail for the following situation:-

I have completed one Automation project in Reports. My Higher authority sends an mail congrats me saying "Good work".

I want to reply him with some fantasy. HOw can i ?

Clare

Thank you for your encouragement. I'm glad you like the project.

Muhammad Azam Khan

Could you please help me in writing email to my client for payment recoveries. ( Please note i have already sent the payment advices to them)

Clare

Have you already threatened them with legal action?

ola

i got an email from someone asking me "May i know if we stand some chance on my quote?"
how to thanks him/her for the quotation she have sent to me and saying that their price was not competitive?
Thanks

Clare

Thank you for submitting a quote. Unfortunately, it was a little out of our price range, but we would like to keep you in mind for future projects.

parthiban

I had a email from my manager, regarding the wishes to completion of 2 years in my company.. how to respond to my manager email?

Clare

Thank you for your kind wishes.

Best regards
(Your name)

Salman

Hi Clare,
I have given resignation to my company 2 months ago & my tenure is now completed. I would like to thank everyone in this office. Pls phrase what to write? I have spent 3 years in this company. Thanks, Salman

Clare

Have a look at the article "Leaving your job"
http://www.theenglishweb.com/articles/leaving-your-job.php

Pauline

I learnt many things from this site.
Thank you!!!

omar

i am pharmacist i take training for three monthes in hospital in USA i back know to my country i want to send thank you letter to a head of the pharmcy department after i complet my training i do not know how write it please help me.

Clare

Thank you for all your help and guidance when I was training with you in (name of US hospital). I learnt a lot and I am now applying it to my job here.

With best wishes to you and to all of the team
(your name)

You might want to add extra details – talk about the specific things you learnt which are useful to you, or mention some of the trainers who particularly helped you.

devi

i want the thanks letter.
I send the letter to my higher officer.
i need the content is now i am working in a concern now i leaving the company in permanent.
so i need the thanks letter format.

Clare

There's an article on writing a letter when you leave your job on our sister site:
http://www.theenglishweb.com/articles/leaving-your-job.php

vilas

I am Vilas working with a MNC company in HR Dept . Recently in my company Country head had visited & now i want to write vote of thanks to them so please help me to write in national & international format .

Waiting for your reply

Thanks & Regards
Vilas

Clare

Sorry, it's not clear to me. Who are you writing thanks to, and why?

asma

thanks alot for this site . We are looking forward to new and creative idea especially about teaching

BHUSHAN KALE

THANK YOU FOR YOUR WEB SITE ,BUT SORRY I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO MY TEACHERS WHO GUIDE ME TO CREATE MY OWN WEB SITE SO PLEASE PUBLISH AN EXAMPLE OF A LETTER TO SAY THANK YOU TO TEACHERS

Clare

You can write "Thank you for helping me to create my own website." Then you can say how their help was useful and that you are grateful etc.

Sama

Hi Thanks alot for your informations.export manager of a company always send me the informations of their company and projects that they do.Now I want to thanks them and i want to say that we put working with them in our directions. How can I write this letter?

Clare

Sorry, what do you mean "put working with them in our directions"?

sama

I wanted to say by writting "Put working with them in our direction" that we decided to do business with you in future.

Clare

Then you can say that!

"…. We look forward to doing business with you in the future."

Jyothi

Hi

Am working as HR in a Pharma company. Please help me in drafting a Thank you mail for all our employees for their Contribution towards the E -News letter Publishing.

Thanks
Jyothi

Clare

You can keep it simple by writing:

Many thanks to everyone who contributed towards the newsletter.

(Then attach the newsletter so they can read it, or ask for contributions for the next issue!)

Sardar R. Khidhir

My boss sent me a mail, he say (You are correct, I looked at the wrong sender.

Sorry for the inconvenience.). How can reply him by a very nice words…

Clare

You could just reply with a quick "No worries!" to acknowledge your boss's email. But it depends how formal / informal your boss is and what your relationship is. If he / she is quite formal and you don't often talk, you could also write something like "Thank you for getting back to me – I appreciate your reply" or even "Thank you for your clarification".

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