6 Apologising and expressing regret
There are different ways to apologise in German. When approaching someone with a request, you could start with Entschuldigen Sie bitte (Excuse me):
Entschuldigen Sie bitte, können Sie mir helfen?
To express regret, you can say (Es) tut mir leid (I’m sorry) or leider (unfortunately):
Tut mir leid, die Hose haben wir nicht in Ihrer Größe.
Diesen Pullover haben wir leider nicht in Blau.
To apologise, you can use Verzeihung (I beg your pardon):
Verzeihung, ich habe mich geirrt
I beg your pardon, I was wrong.
Entschuldigung could be used in all three situations shown above.
Activity 8
All the sentences below could start with Entschuldigung. Select those which could also start with Es tut mir leid.
Answer
The correct answers are
- Entschuldigung, diesen Wein haben wir nicht mehr.
- Entschuldigung, ich habe heute keine Zeit
In both cases, the speaker is expressing regret.
OpenLearn - Getting started with German 3
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