How do I say I am sorry?

Can anyone please help me match the occasions on which to use the many ways of saying I am sorry in Spanish. In my travels over the years, I have heard expressions like perdón, perdóneme, permiso, con permiso, disculpe, discúlpeme, lo siento, and lamento. But when to use which one is still puzzling for me. For example, which one do I use on occasions like these? When I step on someone's foot? When I want to squeeze by someone on a crowded bus? When I stop a stranger to ask for directions? When I want to excuse myself from conversation with a person at a party? When someone tells me of a death in his or her family? And of course, when I want to ask someone not to talk so fast? Thanks for any help you can offer.

You might want to take a look at some of the discussions of "I'm sorry" on WordReference.com. See __http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?forumtitles=1&tranword=sorry__

to say im sorry or sorry is "Lo siento!"

When you step in someone`s foot you can say either : Perdon!... perdoneme or Perdoname (which are the same, the first one is "perdoneme usted", the formal way). You can also say : "Lo siento" o "lo siento mucho" o "disculpeme"... The "permiso" and "con permiso" its NEVER used when you accidentally push someone or step on his foot...this is used when , for example, you want to squeeze by someone on a crowed bus... You can use the "disculpe" or "disculpeme" when aproaching someone for directions. Is often seen in american movies that when someone`s relative has passed away(died) you tap you friend in the back and say "im really sorry" or "im sorry"...in spanish, at least in Mexico, we dont aproach to our friend and say "Lo siento"...you can say it! but is not really common...unless you accidentally killed his relative hahaha...Also you can use the "Lo lamento mucho", but is almost the same as in "lo siento"....we usually say "Que lastima" (what a shame) or "Te ofrezco mi mas sentido pesame" (i offer you my deepest condolens)...and add a supportive phrase such as "sabes que puede contar conmigo para lo que se ofrezca"...you know im here to help you, support you or you can count with me for anything...or something similar. Remeber that when you say "Lo siento" it litterally means "i feel it" , so that means you can use this in other situations... And , in the case someone is speaking very fast (you can see that very often in Mexico hhahaha) you should use the "disculpe" or "disculpeme" or "disculpa"... for example: "bla bla bla...."...."hmmm disculpa! podrias(or podria) hablar mas lento?, porfavor?....podrias is informal...podria is formal...or you can use "puede"...."puede hablar mas lento por favor?.... the first one (podria) is "could you...?" the other one (puede) is more like "can you...?"

Hola Tango,

Permiso and disculpe both pretty much mean excuse me.

"Desculpe, senorita. Puedo sacar su foto? No, lo siento." means " Excuse me, miss. May I take your photo? No, I,m sorry." in lesson 1.4. While "Permiso,senor." means "Excuse me, sir." lesson 2.4. That's all I know about them right now.

Adios 'til next time!

Thanks, Cristian. I didn't know that "lo siento" wasn't commonly used in responding to hearing the news of someone''s death - although I'll keep the expression in my back pocket in case I plug someone... ☺

You're welcome Steven.

And, yes, you may use " lo siento" it would definetly make sense!

 

Saludos!

Thank you everyone. I think I use lo siento, perdon and disculpe a lot. I'll try to practice the other forms, although I overhear my co-workers saying con permiso. Nice exchange of info.