go raibh míle maith agat
The Irish phrase for "thank you very much" is go raibh míle maith agat.
This expression is used to convey a greater level of gratitude than a standard "thank you".
Meaning: greater gratitude than "thank you" (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase literally translates to "may a thousand good things be at you".
Which one should you use?
While go raibh maith agat is the standard way to say "thank you", adding the word míle (thousand) elevates the expression to "thank you very much".
Did you know?
- The word míle in this phrase shares the same Latin ancestor as the English word 'mile', because a 'mile' originally referred to a distance of a thousand paces.
- Irish uses the word míle as a poetic multiplier for gratitude. This reflects a cultural tendency to use the number one thousand to signify an abundance of something rather than a literal count.
- If you want to thank more than one person, you must change the very end of the phrase from agat to aibh.
Examples in context
- Go raibh míle maith agat!Thank you very much!This sentence shows how to use the phrase go raibh míle maith agat to express thanks.Tatoeba #585265 by niq, translation #1564 by adjusting
Example conversation
Saoirse gives Conor a birthday present.
- ConorÓh, go raibh míle maith agat, a Saoirse!Oh, thank you very much, Saoirse!
- SaoirseNá raibh bhríóm go mbeadh sé maith agat.I hoped you would like it.
- ConorIs iontach án leabhar seo.This book is wonderful.
- SaoirseTá fáilte romhat!You are welcome!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “thank you very much” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries agat, go, maith, míle, raibh, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
