Many languages have a single phrase covering two very different situations: cheering someone on before a challenge, and supporting someone through a hard time. French says Bon courage ! for both.
English separates them, and that separation is the whole difficulty. Once you see it, the choice becomes easy: are you pushing someone upward, or helping them stay standing?
1. Encouragement: confidence in success
Here you are backing someone who is about to face a challenge, or is in the middle of one. The idea is to push them toward success.
Good luck!
The most universal option, and the one you will hear most often. It works almost anywhere you want to wish someone well before a challenge — except when the situation calls for real empathy, or when a more specific phrase is expected, such as Break a leg in a theatre.
One nuance worth knowing: said flatly, Good luck with that… is usually ironic and means the opposite — that the person has no chance at all.
Good luck on your exam tomorrow!
Best of luck! / All the best!
The more formal versions, suited to a professional email or a farewell card. All the best is particularly common in British English when someone is leaving a job or starting something new — and it doubles as a sign-off.
Best of luck with your presentation next week.
You've got this!
Used just before a challenge — an interview, an exam, a competition. It expresses confidence in the person: you believe they are capable and you want them to know it. Warm, direct, and very common in American English.
You've practised so hard. You've got this!
You can do it!
Close to You've got this, but with more push behind it. Use it when the person doubts themselves and needs rallying rather than confirming.
I know it feels hard right now, but you can do it!
Keep it up!
Only usable when the effort is already under way. You are encouraging someone to continue — training regularly, progressing through a project, maintaining a good habit. It is a mid-journey phrase, never a send-off.
Your English is improving so fast. Keep it up!
Variants: Keep going! when the effort is hard, and Keep up the good work in a more formal or professional setting.
I'm rooting for you!
Literally: I am on your side, I want you to win. More personal than Good luck, because you are declaring an investment in the outcome rather than merely wishing well.
Whatever happens, I'm rooting for you.
Fingers crossed!
Used when the outcome depends partly on luck rather than entirely on the person — a job application, a test result, the weather on a wedding day. It signals hope rather than confidence, which is sometimes exactly the right message.
Fingers crossed you hear back this week.
Go for it!
A push into action, for someone still hesitating. Very informal and very direct — less a wish for success than an instruction to stop deliberating.
Stop overthinking it. Go for it!
Break a leg!
Used exclusively before a performance in front of an audience: theatre, a concert, a public recital. It comes from a stage superstition that saying good luck backstage brought bad luck. Outside a performance context — before an exam or a match — it sounds odd.
You've rehearsed so well. Break a leg tonight!
In the same family, Knock 'em dead! works for any performance or presentation and is slightly more aggressive in tone.
2. Moral support: courage to endure
Here the person is going through something difficult, long or exhausting. The point is no longer succeeding, but holding on.
Hang in there!
For something draining that has to be endured: a punishing period at work, a stressful wait, a difficult stretch with no end in sight. There is a gentle passivity to it — you are encouraging someone to hold on, not to act.
I know this week has been brutal. Hang in there!
Stay strong!
For a more serious ordeal: illness, bereavement, a significant setback. Graver and more sincere than Hang in there. You are not minimising the difficulty; you are acknowledging it and expressing confidence in the person's ability to bear it.
We're thinking of you. Stay strong.
Thinking of you
The safest phrase in the most serious situations, and the one to use when nothing encouraging would be appropriate. It offers presence rather than advice — which is usually what is wanted.
Thinking of you and your family this week.
Chin up!
Light, British, and best kept for minor disappointments — a cancelled plan, a bad day. Applied to genuine grief it sounds dismissive.
The one that covers both
Take care sits between the two categories. It works as a warm farewell, as gentle support, and as a way of saying you are concerned without dramatising anything. When in doubt, it rarely strikes a wrong note.
What not to say
- Do not say Good luck to someone who is grieving or seriously ill. There is nothing to be lucky about, and the phrase lands badly.
- Do not say You've got this! to someone in real distress. It puts the burden of performance on a person who needs support, not motivation.
- Do not say Hang in there before an exciting opportunity. It implies the experience is something to be survived.
- Do not say Good courage. It is a direct translation of the French and does not exist in English.
How to reply
If someone wishes you well, the usual answers are Thanks, I'll need it!, Thank you, I appreciate it, or simply Cheers! in informal British English. A bare thank you is always sufficient.
Five to start with
If you keep only five: Good luck for almost anything; You've got this when you want warmth and confidence; Keep it up when the effort is already under way; Hang in there when someone has to endure; Stay strong when the situation is genuinely serious.
One expression, two situations
English feels complicated here only because many languages cover both active encouragement and passive support with a single phrase. English does not, and mixing the two registers is immediately noticeable to a native speaker — telling someone to hang in there before a thrilling job interview, or saying you've got this! to someone who has just lost a parent, both land wrong.
Once the distinction is internalised, the choice becomes instinctive. The question is always the same: are you pushing someone upward, or helping them stay standing?