How to Say ‘You worked hard!’ in Simplified Chinese
辛苦了！
xīn kǔ le
[xīnkǔ le]
🇨🇳 In China: 辛苦了 (xīn kǔ le) is the standard warm response when someone tells you about a long day, or to a delivery driver or coworker. It recognises their effort and works more like "thanks for your hard work" or "you must be worn out" than a literal compliment.
Phrase Breakdown
辛苦
xīn kǔ
[xīnkǔ]
hard work; to work hard
Describes toil; '辛苦了' is a common way to thank someone for their effort.
师傅，今天辛苦您了。
Driver, thanks for your hard work today.
了
le
[le]
change-of-state particle
Used with 快…了 to show something is about to happen.
火车快来了。
The train is about to arrive.
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