Meaning of ohayou gozaimasu and ohayou gozaimashita?

konichiwa,

What is the meaning of ohayou gozaimasu and ohayou gozaimashita?
 
Is there a reason for the use of the two different endings, or is it just one of those things were you say ohayo gozaimasu, and ohayo gozaimashita is used for polite endings in other situations? sumimasen for my ignorance, I have only been at this for a little while.
Arigato Dan

Well, I'm pretty sure that , regarding verbs, "-masu" refers to the present as well as future and "-shita" is for something that has happened in the past. Arigato goziamasu (thank you for that favor just now) Arigato goziamashita (thanks for what you did for me yesterday) I'm sure Sayaka will correct me if I'm wrong.

gozaimasu = present/future tense gozaimashita = past tense

Dan-san, You do not have to apologize for such an important question!! - (and thank you Keekiri-san and K73SK-san for your excellent response :P )

Just as your fellow Rocket Japanese learners have explained, there is a difference between the endings -*gozaimasu* and - *gozaimashita*.

*gozaimasu* is the formal equivalent of *aru/arimasu* ("exist/be in a place" for inanimate things)

*gozaimasu* and *gozaimashita* are words that represent a general quality of politeness, formality and refinement.

For example, you are working in a restaurant and a customer asks you if you carry "Japanese-sake" - if you do, then you would answer: *Hai, gozaimasu.* which literally translates as  "Yes, exists/have" - and means: "Yes, I have it."

*gozaimashita* is the formal equivalent of *atta/arimashita* ("exist__ed__/__was__ in a place" for inanimate things)

For any verb, its polite past form is made by changing *-masu* to *-mashita* (similar to the addition of '-ed' in English), so:

ありがとうございます(arigatou gozaimasu) becomes ありがとうございました (arigatou gozaimashita)

and おはようございます (ohayou gozaimasu) becomes おはようございました (ohayou gozaimashita).

I hope this helps!
Sayaka :P