A thank-you email – A2 English Writing

A thank-you email

A thank-you email is a polite message you send when someone helps you, gives you something, or is kind to you. It shows you are grateful. It can be formal or informal, depending on who you are writing to. In your email, you should:

A thank-you email doesn’t need to be long, but it should sound kind and sincere.

Planning an informal thank-you email

An email is divided in five main parts:

1️⃣ Greeting: to start an email

• Hi Anna, / Hello Anna, / Hey Anna, …
• Dear Anna

2️⃣ Introduction: to say what you are writing for

• I’m writing to thank you for… / I just wanted to thank you for…

3️⃣ Main body (one or two paragraphs)

In the first paragraph, you give more information about the reason for writing. In a thank-you email, you explain what you are thankful for and explain why it was important to you.

• The grammar exercises were difficult, but you explained them so clearly.
• I feel much more confident now.
• I even got all the answers right today in class, and it’s all thanks to you!

If there is a second paragraph, you can talk about something else. In a thank-you email, you can talk about other things you did together, or you can plan when you are going to see each other next.

• I’m happy we spent time together, so we…
• I hope you enjoyed my mum’s cake. She thinks…
• I’m lucky to have a friend like you.

4️⃣ Call for action: to get a response

With this sentence, you can invite your friend to an event, offer something or ask a question. In a thank-you email, you can offer some help in return.

• Let me know if you ever need help with… / Would you like some help with…?

5️⃣ Closing: to end an email

• See you soon, / Take care, / All the best

Example of an informal thank-you email

Writing an email: formal or informal?

Before you write, think about who you are writing to.

Write a formal email to be polite. We use formal emails for teachers, doctors, bank staff, or people we don’t know well.

Write an informal email to be friendly. We use informal emails for friends, family, and people we know well.

Formal and informal language

The words we use depend on the type of email we want to write. For example:

Look forward to

We usually use the phrasal verb look forward to at the end of an email. It means you are happy or excited about something that will happen. We can use look forward before a noun, or an -ing verb:

• I look forward to the meeting tomorrow. 
• I look forward to seeing you at the meeting tomorrow.
• I look forward to see you at the meeting tomorrow.

Hope

We use the verb hope to talk about the future. It means we want something good to happen.

We use the present simple to talk about a future situation:

• I hope I pass my test tomorrow.

We use the past simple when we talk about a past action and we don’t know the result:

• I hope I passed my test.