Japanese phrase “arigato” or “arigato gozaimasu” is one of the most frequently used phrases in Japanese.
Meaning of “arigato”
Japanese phrase “arigato” means “Thank you” or “Thanks” in English.
Polite way of saying “arigato”
A polite way of saying “arigato (Thank you)” is “arigato-gozaimasu” or “arigato-gozaimashita”.
Strictly speaking, “arigato-gozaimasu” is in the present tense and “arigato-gozaimashita” is the past tense of “arigato-gozaimasu” in grammar.
But in normal conversation, you don’t need to distinguish them from each other.
“arigato” written in Japanese
“arigato” is written in Japanese as “ありがとう”.
“arigato-gozaimasu” written in Japanese is “ありがとうございます”, and “arigato-gozaimashita” is “ありがとうございました”.