Today is International Thank You Day. It’s a relatively unknown holiday and its origins are not known for sure. However, it’s speculated to have started on the internet.
11 de Janeiro
It’s an annual celebration on January 11th and simply serves to remind us to be thankful and count our blessings. The motto for today is to say “thank you”. Being grateful to the people we love and who make us happy.
So often we go about our lives taking things for granted without realizing it. Others say “thank you” out of habit. Sometimes a simple heartfelt thank you can make all the difference to someone who may be having a rough day unbeknownst to us.
In Portuguese, the word for “thank you” is “obrigado” and “obrigada” which means “obligated”. Interestingly, Portuguese gives us the chance to thank someone on a profound level that most people, natives included, don’t even realize. (Over here I go into more detail about how to use “obrigado” grammatically.)
São Tomás de Aquino
There was an Italian Dominican friar who was a great philosopher as well as a Catholic priest – Saint Thomas Aquinas (São Tomás de Aquino in Portuguese), who defined three primary levels of gratitude in his work Summa Theologica:
1 – Superficial level: This one is on the surface level; recognizing the grace or benefit received; the level of intellectual and cognitive recognition.
2 – Intermediate level: In this level one gives praise and thanks for something freely given in exchange for nothing.
3- Deeper level: This is the level of reciprocity. Feeling commitment/obligation to the person who helped us. It presents a level of bonding between people and a pledge to reciprocate when possible.
Professor Jean Lauand
To paraphrase Professor Jean Lauand’s words from an article he wrote in 2005, there are languages that express this multi-level reality of gratitude. In English and German we thank in the first level – acknowledging what was done or given: “thank you” and “zu danken”.
In other European languages, we thank in the second level. Giving thanks to them such as “gracias” in Castilian or “merci” in French. It is only in Portuguese that one thanks at the deepest level, expressing a bond, an obligation – “obrigado”.
Os Meus Agradecimentos
Regardless of what level your language thanks in, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and for being here! I greatly enjoy writing these posts and knowing someone out there appreciates them, fills my heart.
🇬🇧Thank you very much | 🇮🇪go raibh maith agat | 🇵🇹Muito obrigada
Alternative Ways to Thank in Portuguese
For alternative ways of saying thank you in Portuguese, please click here or watch this video.
If you would a T-shirt to celebrate the day and would like to order one please click here.
Heart-shaped design here.