Several ways of saying "You're Welcome" - A lesson
The following is an excerpt of a helpful note sent to me by Anormal. I asked if I could share the information below and he agreed. Hope it's as helpful to you as it was to me.
Here are some ways to answer "gracias":
In English we answer "you're welcome". In Spanish you can say (most of time and in any circumstance):
de nada / por nada / no hay de que
(Es) un placer - (My pleasure)
This just works the same as "my pleasure" in English, so it's the same as saying "you're welcome".
No hace falta / Faltaba más / No hay porque - (There's no need).
This works best if the person told you "Te agradezco" (I thank you). In this instance "Te agradezco / Te doy las gracias" literally means, "I'm giving you thanks / or 'thanks to you". The answers above get the idea across that "There's no need". In other words, "you don't need to say thank-you" (with the understanding that it was no trouble at all, they were glad to help).
A las ordenes / Cuando guste - (Whenever you wish) - This works best when the person has asked / requested something from you. Under these circumstances, answering with "whenever you wish" means you are expressing that you would gladly do it again if the person asks you for something else.
Para servirle - (To serve you well) To explain this usage, imagine you are going to a supermarket and you ask a worker for some product. He might help you find the product Then you could reply saying, "thanks" in which he would reply, "para servirle". On the other hand, it would sound odd if you go to a store to buy something, then before leaving, the salesclerk said, "thanks"... and you replied "to serve you"! So using it in that situation would sound a little strange.
Then there is just simply: Gracias. Tú -> Gracias a tí. (Thanks. No, I thank you.)
Notice that we could use any of these ways to replace "de nada - you're welcome" and it won't be wrong, but they work better under the circumstances described above (or at least we use them most under those circumstances).
7 Answers
Most important is to know what is used where you are wanting to use the phrases above, at least if you want to sound natural!
It is quite often these simple phrases that get lost in the rush to learn all the
clever things , we often gloss over the everyday language of the people.
I also think it so very important to learn words which show respect to others.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful and necessary post.
Nice job, Katy!
No hay por donde
This is very a informal and humorous response that may not be understood by everyone. I believe it came out of an episode of El Chavo del 8.
Here's an explanation that might be helpful
si tu dices gracias, la otra persona te contestaria normalmente no hay por que, o sea no hay porque darlas, el chiste, bastante tonto por cierto, consiste en cambiar el no hay porque darlas por no hay por donde darlas, es bastante tonto y ceo que se le ocurrio a chespirito, es como cuando dicen callate los oos qe tambien lo invento el, no se me hace un comediante muy inteligente que digamos
No hay de que = Don't mention it
El gusto es mio = It's my pleasure /The pleasure is mine.
Thanks for posting this Katydew. This is going to help a lot of us newbies who have been around only a month. It seems important also because there are so many different ways one wants to say these words under different circumstances. You got my vote!
Thanks for a helpful reference. Bien hecho.
