How to say “sorry” in 37 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.
It is commonest in Chinese, where 抱歉 is the 41st most used word.
- Afrikaans jammer #134
- Arabic آسف #94
- Armenian զղջալ to regret, to be sorry #1,748
- Bengali দুঃখিত saddened, sorry #112
- Bosnian žao #144
- Bulgarian съжалявам #100
- Catalan perdó sorry, pardon me #768
- Chinese 抱歉 to be sorry; to feel apologetic #41
- Croatian žao #134
- Czech promiň sorry! excuse me! #254
- Danish ked tired, sorry #265
- Dutch sorry sorry, pardon, excuse me #197
- English regret To feel sorry about, afterthink: to wish that… #1,846
- Esperanto bedaŭras to regret, be sorry #279
- Estonian vabandust #154
- Finnish anteeksi sorry, I'm sorry #71
- Galician síntoo #337
- Georgian ბოდიში #183
- German sorry #1,456
- Greek συγγνώμη #182
- Hindi सॉरी #2,399
- Hungarian elnézést sorry!, pardon! #216
- Icelandic fyrirgefðu excuse me, sorry #549
- Indonesian maaf #99
- Korean 미안 shame; being sorry #247
- Latvian piedod I'm sorry #160
- Malayalam സോറി #181
- Norwegian beklager #166
- Polish przepraszam sorry; I'm sorry, excuse me #90
- Romanian scuze #244
- Russian прости #216
- Serbian žao #145
- Slovenian oprostite sorry! #142
- Spanish perdón sorry, pardon me #581
- Swedish beklagar to regret, to be sorry #776
- Turkish affedersiniz I'm sorry, pardon me #552
- Urdu معذرت apology, sorry; excuse #262
Knowing the word is the easy half.
Using it with someone who speaks the language is the half that sticks.