Japanese Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for students, teachers, and linguists wanting to discuss the finer points of the Japanese language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
To my knowledge there are three words which can be used in thanking and they seem to be usable together in some combinations:
Are there nuances of each of these words? I know "dōmo" alone is informal and I assume the longer the combination the more formal or respectful.
Are there rules as to how they can and can't be combined? (Did I include any wrong combinations)?
You can't just gloss words like that with Japanese (i.e. Thank you = arigatou, go = iku etc.)
To express thankfulness, there is a whole palette of expressions that Japanese people use.
For example:
gokuro sama makes it sound slightly sarcastic. Perhaps "You fulfilled your duties well"
A page I linked recently had it schematised, I'll report it here in a better way:
There are different ways to thank someone in Japanese depending on who you are speaking to. Just like other phrases in Japanese the politeness levels change in different settings.
- どうもありがとうございます [dōmo arigatō gozaimasu] Most polite;
- ありがとうございます [arigatō gozaimasu] Very polite;
- どうもありがとう [dōmo arigatō] More polite;
- ありがとう [arigatō] Polite;
- どうも [dōmo] Casual.
The word ございます (gozaimasu) is a polite ending that can also be changed into past tense. When you thank someone for something that already happened you would say:
- ありがとうございました [arigatō gozaimashita]
The words arigatō and dōmo can be used for both the present and past situations:
- 昨日はどうも [kinō wa dōmo] = Thank you for yesterday.
Note: Sometimes you will see arigatou written in kanji (有り難う), but it is not as common as seeing it written in hiragana.
I'm surprised no one mentioned すみません yet.
I would use
どうもありがとうございます/ました at speech
ありがとうございます/ました to superiors, and business
Other threes to colleges and my juniors, to some friends.
ありがとうございます's slang form あざーっす to some close friends/colleges
To put it in a more of an English equivalency you can compare them to the following:
•Thanks - どうも (domo)
•Thanks a lot (or much thanks) - どうもありがとう (domo arigato)
•Thanks (more polite than domo) ありがとう (arigato)
•Thank you ありがとうございます (arigato gozaimasu)
•Thank you very much - どうもありがとうございます (domo araigato gozaimasu)
From my experience and understanding (though not an expert in Japanese etymology) domo arigato was not much used until after the Styx song, which almost every Japanese I have met knows or knows of. In more conservative regions or with more traditional people you will generally not hear it being used, but rather they would use arigato gozaimasu.
It's important to realize that there are two dimensions at play here. One is the "heartfelt" dimension, and the other is the "formality" dimension.
Both ありがとう and どうもありがとう are casual in the sense that you should only use them with people that you do not use 丁寧語 with. どうもありがとう shows more sincerity than ありがとう, but even (本当に)どうもありがとう would not be appropriate to, say, your boss.
ありがとうございます and どうもありがとうございます are for people that you use 丁寧語 with. Again the version with どうも is more heartfelt. Some people might feel that it is also more formal, but I would say that is merely because very formal situations often call for exaggerated words of sincerity. You would not use ありがとうございます with, say, a close friend who you do not use 丁寧語 with, no matter how grateful you are, except maybe for comic effect.
As for どうも by itself, the situation is a bit complicated. You will often hear どうも used in situations where the speaker would use 丁寧語, but depending on the formality of the situation, it might be seen as a bit curt. Note, though, that it would be a different reaction from the one that one might get using ありがとう which might be seen as downright disrespectful.
