Phrases |
'Useful' phrases |
Idioms |
Tongue twisters |
Language-related proverbs
The usage of this word various from language to language and culture to culture. In the UK, for example, people say sorry a lot, even when someone else is at fault.
| Language | Sorry |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Jammer! |
| Albanian | Më fal! |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) | (aasef!) أسف |
| Arabic (Egyptian) | (aasif/a - m/f) آسف! |
| Armenian (Eastern) | Ներողությո'ւն: (Nerogh.utyun) Կներե'ք: (Knerek’) |
| Avar | ТIасалъугьа! (Tʼasałuha) |
| Azerbaijani | Bağışlayın / Məni bağışlayın / Üzr istəyirəm |
| Belarusian | Прабачце (Prabachtsye) Выбачайце (Vybachaytsye) |
| Bosnian | Oprostite! |
| Breton | Eskuzit ac'hanon! Digarez! |
| Bulgarian | Съжалявам!
(Sãžaljavam) |
| Catalan | Perdó! Em sap greu |
| Chamorro | Dispensa yu |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 對唔住 (deuim̀jyuh) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | 對不起 [对不起] duìbùqǐ 抱歉 bàoqiàn |
| Chinese (Shanghaiese) | Tevéchi |
| Chinese (Taiwanese) | 失禮 (sit-le2) 歹勢 (phain2-se3) |
| Croatian | Žao mi je, Oprostite |
| Czech | Pardon!
|
| Danish | Undskyld! |
| Dutch | Het spijt me! Sorry! |
| Esperanto | Mi bedaŭras! |
| Estonian | Andke andeks! |
| Finnish | Anteeksi |
| French | Désolé ! Je suis désolé !
Excusez-moi ! Je m'excuse ! Pardon ! Oh, pardon, excusez-moi ! Je vous demande pardon
|
| Frisian (North) | Fertrüt me! |
| Frisian (West) | Pardon! |
| Friulian | Scuse! Pardon! |
| Galician | Síntoo! |
| Georgian | ბოდიში (bodishi) |
| German | Es tut mir leid! Entschuldigung! Ich bedaure! |
| Greek | Συγνώμη!
(Signómi)
|
| Hebrew | (slicha) סליחה! |
| Hindi | माफ़ कीजिये! (māf kījiye) |
| Hungarian | Bocsánat! |
| Icelandic | Því miður / Fyrirgefðu / Mér þykir það leitt (I'm sorry) |
| Ilocano | Pakawan, Dispensar |
| Indonesian | Maaf! |
| Irish (Gaelic) | Gabh mo leiscéal! Tá brón orm! |
| Italian | Scusa! (inf) Scusi! (frm) |
| Japanese | ごめんなさい! (gomen nasai) |
| Jèrriais | J'ai r'gret |
| Kannada | ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ! (kshamisi) |
| Kazakh | Кешіріңіз (Keşiriñiz) |
| Korean | 미안합니다! (mianhamnida) |
| Lao | ຂໍໂທດ (khãw thôht) |
| Latin | Ignosce mihi! |
| Latvian | Piedodiet! |
| Lithuanian | Atsiprašau! Atleiskite! |
| Low German | Nix för ungood! Deit mi leed! |
| Luxembourgish | Pardon |
| Macedonian | Жалам
(Zhalam),
Жал ми е
(Zhal mi e) Извинете (Izvinete) - frm,
Извини
(Izvini) - inf
|
| Malay | Ma'af |
| Malayalam | ക്ഷമിക്കണം! (kṣamikkaṇam) പൊറുക്കണം! (porukkaṇam) |
| Maltese | Skużani! Jiddispjaċini! Ahfirli! |
| Manx | S'doogh lhiam! S'treih lhiam! S'olk lhiam! Gow my leshtal! |
| Mongolian | Уучлаарай (Uuchlaarai) |
| Norwegian | Beklager, Unnskyld |
| Occitan | Perdon! Desencusa! Desencusatz! |
| Persian | (motaasef) !متاسف! |
| Polish | Przepraszam! |
| Portuguese | Desculpa! Desculpe-me! |
| Romanian | Pardon! |
| Russian | Простите!
(Prastite)
|
| Sardinian | Mi dispraghidu! |
| Scottish Gaelic | Gabh mo leisgeul!
Tha mi duilich!
|
| Scots | Sairy! |
| Serbian | Жао ми је (Žao mi je) Опросите (Oprostite) |
| Sesotho | Ntshwarele |
| Slovak | Pardón! |
| Slovenian | Oprostite (frm) Oprosti (inf) |
| Spanish | ¡Perdón! ¡Perdone! ¡Lo siento! |
| Swahili | Samehani |
| Swedish | Förlåt!
|
| Tagalog | Ipagpaumanhin ninyo ako! Paumanhin (po)! |
| Tamil | மன்னிக்கவும்! (mannikkavum) |
| Thai | ผม(ฉัน)เสียใจ (pǒm (chân) sěe-a jai) |
| Turkish | Pardon (inf) Özür dilerim (frm) |
| Ukrainian | Вибачте! (Vybačte) |
| Urdu | (māf karna) معاف کرنا |
| Uzbek | Afu eting
|
| Vietnamese | Xin lỗi |
| Võro | Andkõ andis! |
| Welsh | Mae'n ddrwg da fi/gen i!
|
| Yiddish | (Zay moykhl!) זײַ מוחל! |
| Xhosa | Ndicela uxolo |
| Zulu | Uxolo! |
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, please
contact me. If you can provide audio recordings
of any of these phrases, please send them to
You can send me audio files in any format. If you don't know how to make recordings on a computer, you can send me recordings on audio cassette. Let me know if you want to do this and I'll send you my snailmail address. Or you can call me on Skype (omniglot) and I'll do the recording.
Welcome | Hello | How are you? | Long time no see | What's your name? | Where are you from? | Pleased to meet you | Good morning | Good afternoon | Good evening | Good night | Good bye | Good luck | Cheers/Good health | Have a nice day | Bon appetit | Bon voyage | I don't understand | Please say that again | Please speak more slowly | Can you please write it down? | Do you speak ...? | Excuse me | How much is this? | Sorry | Thank you | Where's the toilet? | This gentleman/lady will pay for everything | Would you like to dance with me? | I love you | Get well soon | How do you say ... in [your language]? | Leave me alone! | Help! | Call the police! | Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year | Happy Easter | Happy Birthday | Idioms | It's all Greek to me | It's raining cats and dogs | As easy as falling off a log | A sandwich short of a picnic | When pigs fly | 'Useful' phrases | My hovercraft is full of eels | Tongue twisters | Proverbs, quotations and sayings about language | One language is never enough | Stop the world, I want to get off! | Days of the week
Copyright 1998- Simon Ager