Thank you is "Arigatou (ありがとう)" in Japanese. Many people know "Arigatou (ありがとう)" but maybe there are few people who can say "thank you for (something)"

Just saying "arigatou" is totally fine, but you can express your thanks more to someone if you can say what you're thankful for in Japanese.

For Japanese beginners, saying your thanks specifically is the next level!

We will share how to say "thank you for ..." in Japanese in this article. You'll learn the correct expressions for each situation.

If you haven't read our previous post, check out Seven phrase to say thank you in Japanese first and learn basic phrases of thank you in Japanese!

Thank you for ... in Japanese

Thank you for "verb" / ... てくれてありがとう

When you want to say "Thank you for ..." , you say "…てくれてありがとう (... tekurete arigatou)."

You'll put a verb in the ... as the て-form. Then, you add くれて and then ありがとう. All together it will be ...てくれてありがとう (tekurete arigatou).

For example, when you want to say "Thank you for helping me," you put 手伝う (tetsudau, "help") together with てくれてありがとう (tekurete arigatou) and you say 手伝ってくれてありがとう (tetsudattekurete arigatou).

て-form (te-form)

When you want to understand how to say thank your for something, it is important to know what て-form is!

て-form is a form when a verb ends with て (te) or で (de). て (te) has a function to connect the verb with "thank you," so you'll need it to learn how to say you're thankful for something.

Depending on the final syllable of the verb, it will become て (te) or で (de).

Thank you for "noun" / ... をありがとう

てくれてありがとう (tekurete arigatou) is one way to say "thank you for..." and it is used for when ... is a verb.

So, how should we say "thank you for ..." when ... is a noun?

In that case, you say "... をありがとう (noun + wo arigatou)."

For example, when you get a present from your friend, you say プレゼントをありがとう (purezento wo arigatou).

*This is the grammatically correct way to say thank you for "noun," but in spoken language Japanese people don't say を (wo) sometimes.

Thank you for "everything" / 色々とありがとう

Sometimes you might feel thankful for many things and can't say thank you for a specific thing.

When you want to say "Thank you for everything," you can say 色々とありがとう (iroiro to arigatou).

色々 means "various (things)" and you say と (to) between 色々 and ありがとう. Be careful not to say をありがとう (wo arigatou).

Formal way to say "Thank you for ... " in Japanese

ありがとう (arigatou) is a casual way to say thank you in Japanese.

If you want to say thank you in a formal situation or for elders and superiors, you say ありがとうございます (arigatou gozaimasu).

ございます is an honorific word. It is okay just to say ありがとうございます (arigatougozaimasu) instead of ありがとう (arigatou) when you want to say "Thank you for ..."

Summary

We shared various ways to say thank you in Japanese in our other article.
Check it out if you want to learn other phrases!