Learn how to ask forgiveness or apologize for something
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| Apologies in Mexican Spanish |
| In this lesson, we'll cover phrases used for apologizing. Since you haven’t quite mastered Spanish, it's possibly a good idea to go over the phrases for apologizing, as they are likely to come in handy. |
| The most common form of apologising is disculpe, which is equivalent to the English “excuse me”. |
| Lets hear it again: |
| (slow) dis-cul-pe. |
| Disculpe. |
| Literally disculpar is a verb that means “un-guilt". |
| If you know the person, and you want to sound more friendly, you just have to change the verb a little. It will become: |
| Disculpa. |
| (slow) Dis-cul-pa. |
| Disculpa. |
| One of the most common ways of saying “What did you say?” in Spanish is ¿Cómo dice? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ¿Có-mo di-ce? |
| Once more: |
| ¿Cómo dice? |
| The first word cómo means “what”. |
| (slow) cómo |
| cómo |
| Then we have dice, which in English is the verb “to say” conjugated. |
| (slow) dice |
| dice |
| This expression can be used when you didn't get what the person just said to you, and you need them to repeat the answer. |
| If you need to excuse yourself while trying to get around in a crowded place, you can say Con permiso, which literally means “with (your) permission”. The translation would be “excuse me” too, but in this case the situation is different. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Con per-mi-so |
| Once more: |
| Con permiso |
| If you want to be very apologetic, or if you’re concerned you've just offended or hurt someone, you can say Perdón or Perdóneme, por favor. Literally, these phrases mean “Sorry” or “Forgive (me)” and “Forgive me, please”. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Per-dón. |
| Once more: |
| Perdón. |
| And the other phrase: |
| (slow) Per-dó-ne-me, por fa-vor. |
| Once more: |
| Perdóneme, por favor. |
| The first word, perdóneme, is a form of the verb perdonar which means “to forgive”. And the word includes the pronoun me, which means “me” |
| (slow) per-dó-ne-me |
| Perdóneme. |
| Por favor means "please" |
| (slow) por fa-vor. |
| Por favor. |
| Altogether, we have: |
| (slow) Per-dó-ne-me, por fa-vor. |
| Perdóneme, por favor. |
| If you are talking to someone you know, and you don't want to be that formal, you can say Perdóname, instead of Perdóneme. |
| (slow) Per-dó-na-me, por fa-vor. |
| Perdóname, por favor. |
| To close out today's lessons, we’d like you to practice what you have just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so !buena suerte! which means “Good luck!” in Spanish. |
| "Excuse me" (formal) |
| (3 sec) Disculpe. |
| (slow) Dis-cul-pe. |
| Disculpe. |
| "Excuse me" (informal) |
| (3 sec) Disculpa. |
| (slow) Dis-cul-pa. |
| Disculpa. |
| “What did you say?” |
| (3 sec) ¿Cómo dice? |
| (slow) ¿Có-mo di-ce? |
| ¿Cómo dice? |
| “Excuse me. (in a crowded place)” |
| (3 sec) Con permiso. |
| (slow) Con per-mi-so. |
| Con permiso. |
| “Sorry.” |
| (3 sec) Perdón. |
| (slow) Per-dón. |
| Perdón. |
| “Forgive me, please” (formal) |
| (3 sec) Perdóneme, por favor. |
| (slow) Per-dó-ne-me, por fa-vor. |
| Perdóneme, por favor. |
| Alright! That's going to do it for this lesson. Hasta luego. |
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