Worried "thank you" is not enough? Try adding this phrase!

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash.

Let's begin with a story:

Scene 1: Monday, at the office. Your boss walks over to you.

Boss: The marketing proposal is due in two weeks, it's about time to start working on it.

You: *Explains that you're busy with something else right now but it's on your to-do list.*

Boss: Alright, just make sure you hand it to me on time. __(a)__.

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Scene 2: Same office, Boss goes for coffee. Your colleague walks over.

Colleague: Your boss is quite pushy. And loud, too. __(b)__!

The blank could be many things (including maybe a swear word for scene two), but here I'd like to put in "辛苦了" for both (a) and (b), which could be translated slightly differently in our two contexts:

(a) would be "thanks for your trouble" (though we don't know if the boss really means it)

(b) is more of a "it must be hard on you, *pat*" (the colleague probably means it)

If we break down the phrase into two parts: "辛苦" means difficult or exhausting, while "了" doesn't mean anything.

So the basic assumption is that hard work has been involved, so we say "辛苦了" to express phrases like "well done" and "good work", sometimes out of politeness just to survive at the workplace, sometimes to really express thanks for the effort someone else has put in.