"You are welcome" in Spanish

Question

There is something I was told when I was in Spain that I now doubt and I'd like to ask for some precisions.

When someone tells us "Thank you", we can say in English :

You are welcome

Or in French :

Je vous en prie

Now, I've heard in Spanish something that sounds like :

No aideke [maybe like no ajdeké in phonetics)

Does it ring a bell ? Because I can't find this expression anywhere on the internet, so maybe I'm just wrong, that's why I ask.

Answer 1

It's actually

No hay de qué.

It actually means the same as You're welcome. You could also use De nada for the same purpose.

See this similar question for some extra information about that topic: What is the difference between "De nada" and "No hay de qué"?

Answer 2

Complementing the answers related to "No hay de qué":

1. In Mexico it is also used as a courtesy reply.
2. Also common as a response is "¿De qué?" (As in "this favour is nothing", "¿de qué?").

Answer 3

It is much less formal to use "de nada" when responding to "gracias". It is akin to saying the Americanism "it's nothing" or "no worries". I would say if you're speaking face-to-face with someone, especially a peer, use "de nada".

[1] "Gracias para me permita usar tu telefono"

[2] "de nada"

I would reserve "no hay de què" for something that actually was a big deal or out of your way-- like buying a gift or doing something that wasn't a favor.

[1] "muchas gracias para el carro, padre, lo es perfecto"

[2] "no hay de que, mi hijo"

hope this helps!

Answer 4

"DE NADA" is used in Spanish and in Portuguese when you want to say "You are welcome" or "Je vous en prie". The pronunciation is similar to "the nah dah", where the letter "a" sounds as in "zebra" or "barn".

"NO HAY DE QUÊ" sounds like "know aaai the QUE" , where "aaai" sounds like the letter "I" in the English alphabet and QUE like in QUEbec ...

I hope it is clear.

Answer 5

I've always associated "de nada" with "you're welcome" and "no hay de que" with "don't mention it" or "don't worry about it."

A couple phonetic spellings have popped up here, so I'll give my informal phonetic spelling from an English-speaker's perspective: "no eye day kay". Obviously pronouncing it exactly like the English words there would be slightly off, but it gets the point across.