How to say “sorry” in 37 different languages
Every one of these is a word that turns up in ordinary speech, not a dictionary curiosity — the number beside it is where it ranks in that language.
- perdón/peɾˈdon/ Spanish
- прости[prɐˈsʲtʲi] Russian
- آسف/ʔaː.sif/ Arabic
- सॉरी/sɔ.ɾiː/ Hindi
- συγγνώμη/siŋˈɣno.mi/ Greek
- ბოდიში[b̥o̞diʃi] Georgian
“sorry” in Spanish: perdón · German: sorry · Russian: прости · Arabic: آسف · Hindi: सॉरी · Greek: συγγνώμη
It is commonest in Finnish, where anteeksi is the 71st most used word.
Sorry in other languages, A to Z
- Afrikaans jammer/ˈja.mər/ #134
- Arabic آسف/ʔaː.sif/ #94
- Armenian զղջալ/zəχˈt͡ʃʰɑl/ to regret, to be sorry #1,748
- Bengali দুঃখিত/d̪ukkʰit̪o/ saddened, sorry #112
- Bosnian žao/ʒâo/ #144
- Bulgarian съжалявам[sɐʒɐˈlʲa̟vɐm] #100
- Catalan perdó[pərˈdo] sorry, pardon me #768
- Chinese 抱歉/pɑʊ̯⁵¹⁻⁵³ t͡ɕʰi̯ɛn⁵¹/ to be sorry; to feel apologetic #41
- Croatian žao/ʒâo/ #134
- Czech promiň[ˈpromɪɲ] sorry! excuse me! #254
- Danish ked[ˈkʰeðˀ] tired, sorry #265
- Dutch sorry/ˈsɔ.ri/ sorry, pardon, excuse me #197
- English regret/ɹɪˈɡɹɛt/ To feel sorry about, afterthink: to wish that… #1,846
- Esperanto bedaŭras/beˈdau̯ras/ to regret, be sorry #279
- Estonian vabandust/ˈvɑb̥ɑnd̥ust/ #154
- Finnish anteeksi/ˈɑnteːksi/ sorry, I'm sorry #71
- Galician síntoo/ˈsintoo/ #337
- Georgian ბოდიში[b̥o̞diʃi] #183
- German sorry/ˈzɔʁi/ #1,456
- Greek συγγνώμη/siŋˈɣno.mi/ #182
- Hindi सॉरी/sɔ.ɾiː/ #2,399
- Hungarian elnézést[ˈɛlneːzeːʃt] sorry!, pardon! #216
- Icelandic fyrirgefðu/ˈfɪːrɪrcɛvðʏ/ excuse me, sorry #549
- Indonesian maaf/ˈmaaf/ #99
- Korean 미안[mia̠n] shame; being sorry #247
- Latvian piedod/ˈpieduod/ I'm sorry #160
- Malayalam സോറി/soːri/ #181
- Norwegian beklager/bəˈklɑːɡəɾ/ #166
- Polish przepraszam/pʂɛˈpra.ʂam/ sorry; I'm sorry, excuse me #90
- Romanian scuze/ˈskuze/ #244
- Russian прости[prɐˈsʲtʲi] #216
- Serbian žao/ʒâo/ #145
- Slovenian oprostite/ɔprɔstíːtɛ/ sorry! #142
- Spanish perdón/peɾˈdon/ sorry, pardon me #581
- Swedish beklagar/bɛˈklɑːɡar/ to regret, to be sorry #776
- Turkish affedersiniz/affedeɾsiˈniz/ I'm sorry, pardon me #552
- Urdu معذرت/məʔ.zə.ɾət̪/ apology, sorry; excuse #262
The speaker reads the word in the voice the LangX app uses for that language — synthesised, not a recording of a native speaker, so treat it as a guide. A row without a button has no reading we are free to use, or none we trust, yet. Voices for Bengali (google (bn_BD), CC BY-SA 4.0), Catalan (upc_ona (ca_ES), CC BY-SA 4.0), Estonian (news (et_EE), CC BY 4.0) and Slovenian (artur (sl_SI), CC BY 4.0).
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.