Spanish word of the week: gracias

This week’s Spanish word of the week is  gracias.

Gracias is a plural noun that means thanks. You can listen to the pronunciation of gracias in the audio clip below:

Of course, as an exclamation gracias is one of the first words you learn in Spanish:

Si te gusta tanto, te lo doy. – ¡Gracias! I’ll give it to you if you like it so much – Thanks!

You can use gracias in other ways, particularly in the following phrases:

Gracias por el regalo. Thanks for the gift.

Gracias por tu ayuda. Thanks for your help.

Notice how you use por, not para here.

dar las gracias a alguien por algo to thank somebody for something

Quería darte las gracias por todo lo que hiciste. I wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done.

gracias a thanks to

Gracias a ella, todo salió bien. Thanks to her, everything went OK.

Gracias a investigaciones recientes, disponemos de tratamientos eficaces. Thanks to recent research, effective treatments are available.

¡Gracias a Dios! Thank heavens!

¡Gracias a Dios que te encuentro! Thank heavens I’ve found you!

Come back next week for another insight into Spanish vocabulary!