Yes, of course you know "Thank you" in Japanese is ありがとう Arigatoo or its full form ありがとうございます Arigatoo gozaimasu. But there are several other ways to say "Thank you" in Japanese. Please post your ideas! I'll provide the answers next week!
Not without cheating and looking it up online. I always thought doomo arigatoo was 'thank you very much.' Now I see that it's more casual, and doomo arigatoo gozaimasu is the more formal.
No idea what the others are, but if they're in lessons 9 and 10 of Essential, I hope to see them by tomorrow!
Yes, in fact, the expression gozaimasu is really the one that makes it polite.
Want to know more about gozaimasu? You can replace desu with de gozaimasu in any "desu sentence" to get an instant politeness effect. Store clerks often use it when they speak to customers. But remember, if you are a customer, you are not supposed to use this kind of very polite language to store clerks.
Example:
Koohii desu. (neutral) ---> Koohii de gozaimasu. (very polite)
"Here's a coffee"
A waiter would say to you, Koohii de gozaimasu instead of Koohii desu.
Copying below: --- There is a past tense version of “Thank you”, which is ありがとうございました Arigatoo gozaimashita. This one is used when you thank for something that has been done to you, for example, you can say it to your teacher at the end of a lesson, or to your host when you leave a house party. Also the past tense version is the one to use when you write a Thank you letter. ---
You may think it takes a while to get used to this past tense version, because there's simply no such thing in English. But, next time you take an eTutor session with me, pay attention to what I say at the very end of the session; I always say, ありがとうございました。Arigatoo gozaimashita. Have you noticed that? And you should say the same back to me and also to your fellow students in the session! You'll soon get used to the expression that way!
You might be thinking that Sumimasen means "Excuse me" or "I'm sorry". Well, it can also be used to mean "Thank you". Do you think it's strange that a single expression can mean both "I'm sorry" and "Thank you"?
You can use Sumimasen to thank someone when you want to acknowledge the trouble that someone has taken for you. What you're doing is to "apologize" that you had someone take the trouble for your benefit. (It doesn't matter if you asked/wished for it or not.) This is a form of politeness!
For example, when somebody gives you a present, you can say Sumimasen, acknowledging that he/she took the trouble of getting a gift for you.
Sumimasen is a very nice, polite expression! Also, you can even stack up expressions; no problem! For example, you could say, Doomo sumimasen, arigatoogozaimasu!
Another expression that is used to mean “Thank you” in Japanese is 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu. Many of you may not have heard this before. This is not something we casually use every day. Rather, it’s a very very polite expression preferred by business people when talking to their customers.
Just like すみません Sumimasen which I mentioned earlier, 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu is used to thank someone when you want to acknowledge the trouble that someone has taken for you. So, take 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu as the super polite version of すみません sumimasen!
However, please note the following: While すみません Sumimasen can also be used to mean “Excuse me” or “I’m sorry”, 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu is only used to mean “Thank you”; i.e. you cannot use it to apologize.
You do not want to use 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu to your friends and family members, but if you use it to thank customers, teachers, bosses, strangers, you’re guaranteed to give quite an impression! Try it!
Comments
Copying below:
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There is a past tense version of “Thank you”, which is ありがとうございました Arigatoo gozaimashita. This one is used when you thank for something that has been done to you, for example, you can say it to your teacher at the end of a lesson, or to your host when you leave a house party. Also the past tense version is the one to use when you write a Thank you letter.
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You may think it takes a while to get used to this past tense version, because there's simply no such thing in English. But, next time you take an eTutor session with me, pay attention to what I say at the very end of the session; I always say, ありがとうございました。Arigatoo gozaimashita. Have you noticed that? And you should say the same back to me and also to your fellow students in the session! You'll soon get used to the expression that way!
すみません。Sumimasen.
You might be thinking that Sumimasen means "Excuse me" or "I'm sorry". Well, it can also be used to mean "Thank you". Do you think it's strange that a single expression can mean both "I'm sorry" and "Thank you"?
You can use Sumimasen to thank someone when you want to acknowledge the trouble that someone has taken for you. What you're doing is to "apologize" that you had someone take the trouble for your benefit. (It doesn't matter if you asked/wished for it or not.) This is a form of politeness!
For example, when somebody gives you a present, you can say Sumimasen, acknowledging that he/she took the trouble of getting a gift for you.
Sumimasen is a very nice, polite expression! Also, you can even stack up expressions; no problem! For example, you could say, Doomo sumimasen, arigatoogozaimasu!
Just like すみません Sumimasen which I mentioned earlier, 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu is used to thank someone when you want to acknowledge the trouble that someone has taken for you. So, take 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu as the super polite version of すみません sumimasen!
However, please note the following: While すみません Sumimasen can also be used to mean “Excuse me” or “I’m sorry”, 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu is only used to mean “Thank you”; i.e. you cannot use it to apologize.
You do not want to use 恐れ入ります Osoreirimasu to your friends and family members, but if you use it to thank customers, teachers, bosses, strangers, you’re guaranteed to give quite an impression! Try it!