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English Vocabulary: When to Say “Congratulations!”

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Melanie

English Vocabulary: When to Say “Congratulations!”

February 22, 2016 by Melanie

When to Say Congratulations | English Teacher Melanie

In English, congratulations is a form of praise when someone achieves something special or unusual, for example when someone:

  • gets engaged
  • gets married
  • gets a job promotion
  • gets a new job
  • has a new baby
  • passes an exam
  • graduates from school
  • wins an election
  • wins a race or contest

Congratulations on winning the election!

Congratulations on your new baby!

Congratulations on on winning a gold medal!

 
Congratulations is often shortened to congrats in writing. English speakers don’t usually say congrats.

 
Since I started teaching English, I have been congratulated for everything! Often English learners say congratulations when they mean good job or well done!

When you want to tell someone that they have done well on a project, taught a class well, given a good speech, or generally done something well, you can say:

Good job on the report! I think the executives will like it.

That was a great class, teacher. Well done!

Excellent speech! The audience really enjoyed it.

 

When all the players shake hands at the end of a sports game, they say “good game” to each other. When a sports team wins a tournament, you can also say “Congratulations!” to the team.

Filed Under: Blog, Vocabulary

Comments

  1. Otty says

    March 22, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    🙂 Good advice, thanks

  2. Ha says

    April 29, 2012 at 11:02 pm

    Dear Teacher Melanie,
    This blog post is really helpful to me! Great work!
    (P/S: Am I right replacing ‘job’ with ‘work’? Thank you!)

    • Melanie says

      April 30, 2012 at 5:24 pm

      Hi, Ha!

      Yes, you are absolutely correct! “Great work” is the appropriate thing to say. Thank you!

      = )

  3. rachid says

    July 1, 2012 at 11:18 am

    Hello teacher, i since i found this amazing blog, i always waiting for new information about English language; you really have done great job. Thank you very much. May ALLAH reward you

  4. maqsood says

    July 16, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    good words for non native speakers

  5. Suad says

    October 2, 2012 at 1:35 pm

    Hi teacher Melanie! I really like your lessons, and i appreciate that. thank you very much for you helping us. Well done Melanie <3

  6. Tiam says

    November 16, 2012 at 5:40 am

    Hi teacher Melanie!
    I found this useful blog by chance and introduced it to my friends.
    thanks for your helping.

  7. Childerico says

    October 15, 2013 at 5:12 pm

    Hi, Melanie

    How are you?

    Could one say “Congratulations on teacher’s day”?

    Or does it sound awkward?

    • Melanie says

      October 15, 2013 at 7:14 pm

      Hi, Childerico!

      “Happy Teacher’s Day!” is best. You shouldn’t say ‘Congratulations’ because the teacher didn’t actually achieve anything on this day.

      = )

  8. Jade Nguyen says

    November 26, 2013 at 7:17 am

    Hello Teacher,
    Thank you so much! You’ve showed me things that I couldn’t find from the books.

  9. alexder says

    January 9, 2014 at 12:14 am

    Great job teacher

  10. Siva says

    March 19, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    Good Job/Well Done! This lesson is amazing. Congratulations! on being the best English Teacher.

  11. MM says

    May 8, 2014 at 7:24 pm

    Hello,
    I think the question that I’m about to ask is mostly the matter of opinion than language, but I’m going to ask anyway:

    A friend’s sister is getting engaged and he just let me know by email. And I don’t know and never met his sister. Should I say congratulations to him?

    I’d really appreciate your help. 🙂

    M.M.

    • Melanie says

      May 9, 2014 at 1:26 pm

      Hi, M.M.,

      Even native speakers struggle with this situation! I think the best thing to say is,

      “Congratulations to your sister!”

      or

      “Congratulations to your sister & her fiance/boyfriend/future husband!”

      = )

      • MM says

        May 10, 2014 at 1:30 am

        Thank you Melanie. That was very helpful.
        I’m so glad I found your website. I added it to my bookmarks and I’m sure I’ll refer to it quite often. 🙂

  12. Tiago Sa says

    August 1, 2016 at 3:13 am

    Thank you teacher! This lesson helped me a lot!

  13. Ibrahim says

    August 23, 2016 at 8:38 am

    Thanks for your helpful lesson, you have done the best teacher

  14. Karla Torres says

    August 23, 2016 at 1:44 pm

    Great tips!!!! Thanks a lot!

  15. Liliana Luisa Andrade says

    August 23, 2016 at 2:57 pm

    Hi Melanie!
    Your blog has been very helpful for me. I really need the use of formal expressions for current conversation.
    Thanks!

  16. Martha yim says

    September 5, 2016 at 9:11 am

    Good lesson .thanks

  17. Vernie says

    September 20, 2016 at 6:52 am

    Thank you for this informative lesson. I think I used it inappropriately on social media. No one told me it was wrong but I decided to search on Google for appropriate usage. Thanks again for sharing.

  18. Fabiano says

    March 12, 2017 at 3:20 pm

    I´m often stop by. Great site.

  19. Vijay Shelar says

    March 31, 2017 at 11:34 pm

    Mam, I always wanted lern english and speek fluently. now i still lerning English since four months. only on mobile internet , I have searched many websites of lern english but when I saw your lesson and blog then I understood some English English grammar is very hard to memorize for me when I start speek English practice that time I suddenly forget all grammar rules so I afraid that I am wrongly speaking and I was stop …

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