How to learn Why There Is no “Viele Danke” in German

Why There Is no “Viele Danke” in German

Viele Danke in German. The difference in German between the expressions danke and vielen Dank always causes trouble. In this post I am going to explain why they are written differently.

1. Danke (thanks, thank you)

This word actually is a verb. This is the reason why it is written with a small initial letter. It is the first person singular (“I”) of the verb danken (to thank).

Thus, it works the same as the corresponding English expression:

(I) thank you.
(Ich) danke (dir/Ihnen).

We usually drop the first personal pronoun (ich). The use of the second pronoun is optional: you can add dir when talking to family and friends, and Ihnen for unknown people.

Notice: This verb takes dative case!

Other possible combinations:

(Ich) danke schön (für die Hilfe). Thank you very much (for your help).
(Ich) danke (dir/Ihnen) (so) sehr (für die Hilfe). Thank you (so) (very) much (for your help).
(Ich) danke (dir/Ihnen) vielmals (für die Hilfe). Thank you very much (for your help).
Ich möchte dir/Ihnen (für die Hilfe) danken. I’d like to thank you (for the help).
Ich habe dir/Ihnen (für die Hilfe) gedankt. I have thanked you (for the help).

Notice also:

The word (das) Dankeschön is a noun and means “(the) thankyou”.
The expression “to say thank you” is in German danke sagen.

2. Vielen Dank (thank you very much/a lot, many thanks)

The core of this expression is a noun: (der) Dank. It has no plural. In order to say “many (thanks)”, we add the adjective viel declined in accusative (masculine). This accusative is the same one used in guten Morgen/Tag/Abend because we always wish or say these expressions (wünschen/sagen take accusative).

Other possible combinations:

Schönen Dank. Many thanks/thank you very much.
(Ich sage Ihnen) besten Dank. (I say) many thanks/thank you very much. (more formal)
Herzlichen Dank. [same as 2.]
Tausend Dank. A thousand thanks.

Different Ways Of Saying Thank You In German