Apologies and Thanks

[jampanman]

Hi all,

I am looking for the best way to apologise or give thanks for a particular action. I believe that using the te form + arigatou/sumimasen is the way to do this.

Am I correct? Are you able to use verbs in another form to apologise/give thanks?

お願いします。

[wccrawford]

It would depend on the situation, seriousness of the transgression, relative levels of the people involved, etc.

Sumimasen might do it, or gomennasai, or shitsureishimasu or...

[Javizy]

I think what you're after is '~te kurete/kudasatte arigatou (gozaimasu)' 'thank you for doing ~' and '~te sumimasen/gomen(nasai)' 'sorry for having done ~'.

Kyou kite kurete arigatou~!
Thank you for coming today!
O-me ni kakatte kudasatte arigatou gozaimashita.
Thank you for looking over it for me.
Osokute gomen ne.
Sorry for being late.
Baka na koto icchatte suimasen.
I'm sorry for saying such stupid things.

You can mix it up with expressions like 'moushiwake nai', 'kansha suru', etc, as well, depending on the context. If you Google 'てくれて', 'てくださって', 'ていただいて', you should find some better examples instead of relying on my shaky Japanese.

With the thank you version, you can also use morau/itadaku. The only example that comes to mind is 'O-jikan o saite itadaite hontou ni arigatou gozaimasu' (classic interview phrase), which I guess would be translated as 'I'm very grateful for being given your time'. I don't have any reference on any of this stuff, so I can't really give you any more details. I'm guessing the differences between kureru and morau apply the same as usual.

[Belton]

It's worth pointing out that sumimasen is used in many situations where an English-speaking person might say thankyou. A sort of "I appreciate the trouble I've caused you" ie Thankyou.
I think I heard the "sumimasen" thank you far more often than an "arigatou" thankyou.