The Right and Wrong Ways to Respond to a Compliment in English
Giving compliments is a great way to improve someone’s day, make a friend, build a relationship, improve someone’s confidence or just feel good about spreading joy wherever you go.
But giving compliments seems to be a lot easier than taking them for most people; in fact, there is how we should respond to a compliment and how most people actually do it.
Many English speakers, especially women, respond to compliments with embarrassment or even disagree with your compliment, probably because they are afraid of seeming arrogant which sometimes means they go too far to sound humble and actually start insulting themselves and even the person who complimented them in the first place!
This definitely makes responding to compliments less than simple! So, what can you expect to hear when you give a compliment and what should you actually say when you receive one?
In today’s lesson, I share 4 real-life examples of compliments with how we should respond and what you might actually hear. Here are the situations you’ll learn about:
- A compliment from a friend on your clothing
- A compliment from a colleague at work
- A compliment from another mom on your child’s behavior
- A compliment from a stranger
Get real-life examples of how to respond to a compliment in English.
Lesson by Annemarie
Want to know more about how to compliment others? Especially colleagues at work?
Get my lesson on How to Compliment Colleagues at Work in English.
Now I’d love to hear from you!
Do you have a difficult time accepting compliments? I’m curious what is most common in your culture: do people generally accept a compliment with “thank you” or is there something else they say? Tell me about your experience in the comment section below.
And, of course, I have a challenge for you. Review the three example compliments below and tell me how you would respond in English. You can share your answers in the comment section.
- Dinner was delicious!! Thank you so much for inviting us over. We had a wonderful time this evening. (from a neighbor)
- Great work on getting the project done on time! I know it was a tight deadline. (from your boss)
- What a great jacket! I love it. (from a stranger)
I look forward to hearing from you.
~ Annemarie
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Thanks for accepting our invite,we too really enjoyed having you with us
Thank you, this really means a lot !
Thank you ! So nice of you !
Excellent responses, Tasnim
What a great video !! Well done once again 😊
1 thank you! I am glad you liked it. I really enjoy cooking for friends !
2 thank you so much, I really appreciated you kindness.
3 thanks! It’s my favorite.
Perfect, Maisa! Love your responses to the example compliments and I’m so happy to hear the lesson was helpful! 🙂
Hi Anne Marie! I send you a greeting from sunny Uzbekistan I’m a new here and this is my first post I have ever posted I just lately found your page and I liked it immediately I’m also stuck in intermediate level and I can’t do anything with it,I think that with your method of study I shall improve my english because as I said above I was fond of your studies As to answers to the compliments I would say: 1.No welcome,I also had a good time and I hope I’ll see your coming again 2.No thanks,it’s my job,sir… Read more »
Hi Annemarie,
1A: Thank you. you are welcome. me too
2A: Thank you but it’s a team effort
3A: Thanks for the compliment
Great examples, Chai!
Hi AnneMarie, I appreciate you sharing this awesome course. Below is my answer to the challenges. Compliment 1: Dinner was delicious!! Thank you so much for inviting us over. We had a wonderful time this evening. (from a neighbor) Answer 1: Thank you. I also have a good evening with you guys. Compliment 2: Great work on getting the project done on time! I know it was a tight deadline. (from your boss) Answer 2: Thank you so much. I’m just doing my best. (Inside of me, promote me plz…..XD) Compliment 3: What a great jacket! I love it Answer… Read more »
Hi AnneMarie, Everyday I recieved compliment from my co workers,Boss,and my friends.and responds was a smile and l’ll say Thank you.I am born in the Philippines but lived now in NewZealand.my concerned is my pronunciation.This video its really help to me.Thank you and God Bless.❤️
Hi Cynthia,
It sounds like you’re responding perfectly to those compliments! Nice work. I’m glad the video was helpful to you!
Hi Annemarie, I’m new around here. It sounds great for how you manage the way of teaching in english. I’m from Peru but I’m living in Spain. I’ve come since I was ten years ago. So I don’t remember the tipical compliments from my home-country. The country where I’m living in now, I think the spanish culture spins around the mood good. When they receive compliments, they say thank you without hesitating. Then they explain short reasons that the compliments don’t have much importance but they appreciate them in way humour. About the possible responses (About my personality, I’m a… Read more »
Hi Sergio,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your experience in Spain with compliments!
And great job sharing some example compliments. Let’s make one change in the first one. We can simply say, “You’re welcome.”
As for an email from me, if you joined my community but didn’t get an email, check your junk or spam folders. Sometimes it goes there the first time you get an email from me.
Hello AnnMarie, Im so grateful about your help in the best use of english compliment and others topics that show us. In the case of my Country : Venezuela , we are so proud about the way that we do and accept to a compliment . Always we respond with thanks and said others things to appreciate the compliment . I love your pronuntiation and in my country we have a great compliment : I like to be like you when I grow up !!! it is like I want to learn all that you can teach , and do… Read more »
Hi Mercedes,
We have the same compliment in English!!! 🙂 And thank you for sharing it. I’m thrilled that my lessons are helpful to you.
It sounds like in Venezuela you have a great way to deal with compliments. I like that you show appreciation for the compliment.
Hi Annemarie: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, in this case, “compliments”. My first thought I had while I was listening to you was ” Houston we have a problem here” later I thought that the person who gave the compliment see the event differently that the person who’s receiving it, this case shows some selfishness by the person who received, no big deal, all of us have this selfishness and we must aware of it and fight against it so the person who gives the compliment and the person who receive it is referring to two different… Read more »
Hi Jaime,
I loved your use of “Houston we have a problem here.” Ha! Very clever.
You might be right that there’s a little selfishness in the receiver for not kindly accepting the compliment. That is an interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing it!
Every your video and lesson are useful for me. I appreciate your help and all your work. You are GREAT!
Hi Lina,
Oh, I’m so glad to hear my videos are useful to you! Thank you for sharing that. And I wish you much continued success in your English.
1. Delicious meal: I’ll say that Thanh you, I really appriciate that
2. Great work : I’ll say Thank you for your noticing.
3. Skirt: I’ll say Thank you, that ‘s my favorite one / I love it, too
Fantastic responses, Thao! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Hello Annemarie.
I tell you that in Colombia, people usually respond to a compliment with thank you or I appreciate this and then, we explain a little more about the way or the theme, we use a lot of words in an answer.
When people thank me for a dinner, I would respond like this:
– Thanks, I love that you liked the food that we prepared or chose, we would like to repeat it again very soon.
– We spent a pleasant time in company of you, thanks for coming, we have to repeat this meeting.
Hi Adriana, thanks for sharing about the common way to accept a compliment in Colombia. It sounds exactly the way native English speakers should do it. 🙂 And great examples of how to respond to the compliments in my challenge question.
Lady, you are a very attractive lady.
Thank you, sir, you have a very good taste.
😆 I love it, Quy!! Thanks for sharing it. And yes, I believe he has good taste. 🙂
Hello AnneMarie,
A compliment from a gentleman to me as
and my response was
Hope my answer will put a smile on your and all of my classmate’s face.