謝謝 ｜ Thank you in Chinese
How to say thank you in Chinese
xiè xie — sounds like syeh-syeh
Simplified Chinese: 谢谢 · written by ear as “shie shie”
Thank you in Chinese is 謝謝 — written 谢谢 in simplified Chinese, and said xiè xie. If you have seen it written “shie shie”, that is not a different word; it is the same word spelled the way an English ear hears it. Here is how it actually sounds, when to reach for something warmer, and what a Taiwanese person is most likely to say back.
Why so many people write it “shie shie”
Because that is genuinely what it sounds like. More people search for shie shie than you would guess, and they are not making a mistake so much as writing down what they heard.
The pinyin letter x is the problem. English has no sound for it, so the closest thing an ear reaches for is “sh”. They are not the same. For English sh the tongue pulls back and the lips round a little. For Mandarin x the tip of the tongue rests behind the bottom front teeth and the air hisses out over the middle — thinner, brighter, further forward. Try saying “see” and then, without moving your tongue, add the yeh: s(y)eh. That is closer to 謝 than “sh” will ever be.
So: write it xiè xie, say it somewhere between “syeh” and “sheh”, and know that nobody in Taipei will misunderstand you either way.
The tone, honestly
Look 謝謝 up and you get xièxiè — fourth tone twice, both syllables falling hard. Listen to somebody actually say it and you get xiè xie: the first 謝 drops sharply, the second goes light and short, almost swallowed.
Both are correct, and the difference is not pedantry — it is most of what makes the word sound native. Two full falling tones is the shape a careful learner produces; one falling and one light is the shape a Taiwanese ten-year-old produces without thinking about it.
Nine ways to say it, and when each one fits
Every one of these is 謝 doing the work. What changes is the weight — how much feeling you are putting behind it, and how far above you the other person is standing.
| Phrase | Literally | When you would use it |
|---|---|---|
| 謝謝 谢谢xiè xie · ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄒㄧㄝ | thank thank | The everyday one. Shops, taxis, a held door, a passed dish — all day, everywhere. |
| 謝謝你 谢谢你xiè xie nǐ · ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄒㄧㄝ ㄋㄧˇ | thank thank you | Warmer, and aimed at one person. Use it when the thing was done for you. |
| 謝謝您 谢谢您xiè xie nín · ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄒㄧㄝ ㄋㄧㄣˊ | thank thank you (respectful) | To a teacher, an elder, a customer, anyone you are showing deference to. 您 is the polite 你. |
| 謝啦 谢啦xiè la · ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄌㄚ | thanks! | Very casual. Friends, cousins, a sibling who passed you the remote. Not to an adult you have just met. |
| 多謝 多谢duō xiè · ㄉㄨㄛ ㄒㄧㄝˋ | many thanks | Short and a little clipped. Common in writing and in quick messages. |
| 感謝 感谢gǎn xiè · ㄍㄢˇ ㄒㄧㄝˋ | feel-thank | Weightier than 謝謝. For something that genuinely mattered — a card, a speech, a real favour. |
| 非常感謝 非常感谢fēi cháng gǎn xiè · ㄈㄟ ㄔㄤˊ ㄍㄢˇ ㄒㄧㄝˋ | extremely feel-thank | Formal and written — an email, a thank-you note, a speech. Rarely spoken to a friend. |
| 太感謝了 太感谢了tài gǎn xiè le · ㄊㄞˋ ㄍㄢˇ ㄒㄧㄝˋ ˙ㄌㄜ | too feel-thank (already) | Spoken, and genuinely moved. The one you say when someone has really rescued you. |
| 麻煩你了 麻烦你了má fan nǐ le · ㄇㄚˊ ˙ㄈㄢ ㄋㄧˇ ˙ㄌㄜ | I troubled you | Thanks and a small apology, for something that cost the other person effort. Very Taiwanese. |
What to say back
Half of knowing a word is being able to catch it when it comes at you. These are the four you will hear.
| Reply | Literally | Who says it |
|---|---|---|
| 不客氣 不客气bú kè qi · ㄅㄨˊ ㄎㄜˋ ˙ㄑㄧ | don’t be polite | The textbook “you’re welcome”, understood everywhere. |
| 不會 不会bú huì · ㄅㄨˊ ㄏㄨㄟˋ | it’s nothing | What you will actually hear in Taiwan. A learner who only knows 不客氣 will be surprised by how often this comes back instead. |
| 不用謝 不用谢bú yòng xiè · ㄅㄨˊ ㄩㄥˋ ㄒㄧㄝˋ | no need to thank | Common on the mainland; perfectly clear in Taiwan, just less used. |
| 沒事 没事méi shì · ㄇㄟˊ ㄕˋ | it’s nothing / no problem | Casual and quick, between people who know each other. |
One that does not belong on that list: 哪裡哪裡 (nǎlǐ nǎlǐ). It deflects a compliment, not a thank-you. Answering 謝謝 with it is the kind of small wrongness that gets a warm laugh.
The one place a heritage child should not say 謝謝
This is the part most guides leave out, and for a heritage family it is the part that matters.
In a lot of Taiwanese families, thanking your own parents or grandparents for ordinary things lands strangely. There is a word for the feeling it creates: 見外 (jiànwài) — literally seeing as outside, treating someone close as though they were a guest. A child raised on English politeness will thank their grandmother for every bowl of rice, and mean it beautifully, and still sound like a visitor in her kitchen.
What warms the same moment instead:
- 你辛苦了 (nǐ xīnkǔ le) — “that was a lot of work.” It thanks the effort rather than the transaction, and it is what an adult would say.
- Naming the thing. 奶奶做的魚最好吃 — “grandma’s fish is the best.” Specific beats polite, every time.
- Eating a second helping. In a Taiwanese kitchen that is the thank-you.
None of which means teaching a child not to be grateful. 謝謝 is exactly right with shopkeepers, drivers, teachers, waiters, a friend’s parent — everyone outside the family, and inside it for something genuinely out of the ordinary. The skill is knowing which side of that line you are standing on, and it is the kind of thing a child only learns from someone who grew up inside the language.
Teaching it to a child, in about four minutes
- Say it, don’t spell it. Three rounds of xiè xie with the second syllable deliberately light. Children copy prosody long before they copy vowels.
- Give it a target. Thank one specific person for one specific thing today. Abstract vocabulary does not stick; “say it to the bubble-tea guy” does.
- Add the reply. A word you can only say is half a word. Teach 不會 in the same sitting so they can hold both ends.
- Write it once. Not twenty times — once, slowly, watching the strokes go down in order. Seventeen strokes is a lot for a small hand, and that is fine; the point is that the character stops being a picture and starts being something they made.
漢字與識字 ｜ How the character is built
謝，是「言」加「射」
Seventeen strokes a child already knows in two halves.
謝 is 言, speech, written beside 射. The strokes add up exactly — 言 7、射 10、謝 17 — so a child who can write the two halves has already written the whole.
Common questions
- How do you say thank you in Chinese?
- Thank you in Chinese is 謝謝 (谢谢 in simplified Chinese), said xiè xie — roughly “syeh-syeh”. The first syllable falls sharply; the second is lighter and shorter.
- Is it “shie shie” or “xie xie”?
- The pinyin spelling uses an x, not sh — xiè xie. “Shie shie” is how the word sounds to an English ear, so a lot of people write it that way — it is the same word, not a different one. The pinyin letter x is not an English “sh”: the tongue sits behind the bottom front teeth and the sound is thinner and more forward than “sh”.
- Is 謝謝 said with two falling tones?
- Written out, both syllables are fourth tone — xièxiè. In ordinary speech the second one goes light: xiè xie. Saying both with a full falling tone is understood everywhere, it just sounds a little more deliberate than a native speaker would be.
- What is the difference between 謝謝 and 感謝?
- 謝謝 is the everyday thanks you say dozens of times a day. 感謝 (gǎnxiè) carries real feeling and shows up in cards, speeches and messages about something that mattered. Saying 感謝 for a held door would sound odd, the way “I am deeply grateful” would in English.
- How do you reply to 謝謝 in Taiwan?
- Most often 不會 (bú huì) — literally “it’s nothing”. 不客氣 (bú kèqi) is the textbook answer and is understood everywhere, but 不會 is what you will hear across a counter in Taipei.
- Should my child say 謝謝 to their grandparents?
- For something real, yes. For every small everyday thing, it can land as 見外 (jiànwài) — treating family like outsiders. A child who thanks their grandmother for each bowl of rice can sound like a polite guest. 你辛苦了 (nǐ xīnkǔ le), “that was a lot of work”, usually lands warmer.
- Is 謝謝 traditional or simplified Chinese?
- 謝謝 is traditional, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. 谢谢 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore. Same word, same sound, same meaning — only the strokes differ.