French for Forgive Me for Writing Again

"An amends is the super glue of life. It can repair but nearly anything." (Lynn Johnston)

Whatever our reasons are, information technology's never piece of cake nor pleasant to apologize. Even in our native language where we tin limited all the subtleties needed to tone things down and smooth off the rough edges, "Sorry" all the same seems to be the hardest word.

Now, imagine you have to offering your apologies in another language, similar French. Would you know how to say "sorry" in French? Of grade, you won't want to risk any further mishap or an unfortunate choice of words that could put you in a tougher spot.

Learning how to say "pitiful" in French will not only aid you go through fragile situations when you've made a mistake or behaved poorly. Information technology will besides provide you with a collection of ready-made formulas that you can apply equally a polite lubricant in everyday interactions. Without further ado, let'due south take a look at how to tell someone y'all're sorry in bones French. Commencement with a bonus, and download your FREE cheat sail – How to Improve Your French Skills! (Logged-In Member Merely)

1. The 3 Almost Important Words
2. Accept Responsibility
3. Pitiful Gestures
4. How to Accept an Apology
5. Make information technology Official
6. French Culture of Apologies
7. How Frenchpod101 Can Assist Y'all Acquire More about Apologizing

1. The 3 Near Important Words

When it comes to learning how to say "sorry" in French, vocabulary is, of course, a huge actor. Although they tin take many dissimilar forms, apologies in French republic mainly come down to but three words:

• Alibi ("Apology")
• Désolé ("Sorry")
• Pardon ("Pardon")

Once you start practicing their variations, outlined below, yous'll quickly get the hang of it. Every bit y'all'll see, there are variations for proverb a formal apology in French, likewise as casual variations.

1- South'excuser ("To apologize")

Hither are Casual and Formal variants of "Excuse me" with their literal translations:

Coincidental "Excuse me"	Formal "Excuse me"
Je m'excuse. ("I excuse myself.")		Je m'excuse. ("I alibi myself.")
Alibi-moi. ("Alibi me.")	Excusez-moi. ("Excuse me.") Veuillez m'excuser. ("Please, alibi me.") Toutes mes excuses. ("All my apologies.") Je vous présente mes excuses. ("I present you lot my apologies.")

Je m'excuse ("I excuse myself") may sound weird once literally translated, merely this is the virtually popular manner to say that you're lamentable. In French, it doesn't actually sound like you're request for forgiveness and forgiving yourself in the aforementioned judgement!

two- Pardonner ("To forgive")

Here are Coincidental and Formal variants of "Forgive me" with their literal translations.

Coincidental "Forgive me"	Formal "Forgive me"
Pardon. ("Forgiveness.")	Pardonne-moi. ("Forgive me.")
Je te demande pardon. ("I ask for your forgiveness.")	Pardon. ("Forgiveness.")
Pardonnez-moi. ("Forgive me.")	Je vous demande pardon. ("I ask for your forgiveness.")

How to use it:

Sentences with South'excuser ("to apologize") or Pardonner ("to forgive") can all exist used to express that you're pitiful about your deportment or the state of affairs.

For case: If you accidentally bump into someone and spill their coffee, yous could say: Oh, toutes mes excuses ! or Je vous demande pardon !

Excuse-moi and Excusez-moi are two common polite formulas that yous can use in everyday situations, simply every bit their English counterpart, "Excuse me."

Pardon ("forgiveness") works just every bit well for casual or formal encounters.

For example: You want to reach for your cheese in the refrigerator and someone y'all don't know is standing in the way. You could say: Excusez-moi to grab his attention.

With a friend, you would use the coincidental Alibi-moi for the same result.

In both cases, you could as well say: Pardon ("forgiveness").

3- Être désolé ("To be sorry")

Last just not to the lowest degree, Désolé ("Sorry") is another cornerstone of the French apologies and works for casual and formal situations.

• Désolé [Male person] / Désolée [Female] ("Sorry")
• Je suis désolé(e) ("I am sorry")

At present, depending on the gravity of the state of affairs, yous may non desire to audio overly laid-back when saying "I'm distressing" in French. Hither are some means to emphasize your apologies forth with how to combine that apology with Désolé .

• Vraiment ("Really") — Je suis vraiment désolé. ("I am really deplorable.")
• Sincèrement ("Sincerely") — Je suis sincèrement désolé. ("I am sincerely sorry.")
• Réellement ("Truly") — Je suis réellement désolé. ("I am truly sorry.")
• Tellement ("So") — Je suis tellement désolé. ("I am so sorry.")

On the other paw, if the incident is so trivial that it doesn't even deserve Désolé , you lot might want to go for our super-coincidental Oups ("Oops").

Not certain when you should say "Lamentable?" Take a look at our list of phrases to say when yous are angry on FrenchPod101. If y'all hear some of these directed at y'all, in that location's a good gamble you might want to apologize for something!

2. Have Responsibility

At present that we've covered the basics, let's see how to get a footstep farther. If y'all ask for forgiveness, you may want to accept the arraign and acknowledge that y'all're guilty of your bad deeds. Here's how:

• Je regrette. ("I regret.")
• Je suis navré. ("I'm deplorable.")
• C'est ma faute. ("Information technology'due south my fault.")
• Je ne le ferai plus. ("I won't practise it again.")
• Je due north'aurais pas dû dire ça. ("I should not have said that.")
• Comment puis-je me faire pardonner ? ("How can I exist forgiven?")

In an informal setting, you could use a flake of slang (with care, every bit both of these terms are very familiar):

• J'ai merdé. ("I've messed up.")
• J'ai déconné. ("I've screwed up.")

You lot can notice more examples and useful phrases on our list of Common ways to say Sorry, as well equally an audio recording to practice your emphasis.

3. Sorry Gestures

When working on your apology in learning French, gestures are an of import aspect to consider. Although in that location'due south no 'official' gesture to limited that you're distressing or to ask for forgiveness, having your trunk linguistic communication in line with your words never hurts. In France, hither are a few gestures to selection up:

• Hold your hands upward, as if you lot're held at gunpoint.
• Place one hand over your heart.
• Open your hands in front of your hips, palms up or downward.
• Slightly extend 1 hand, palm up, toward the other person.
• Agree your hands together perpendicularly in forepart of yous.

Recollect to look at the other person in the eyes while apologizing. Keeping eye contact inspires trust and evokes a deeper connection. The other person volition be more likely to believe in the sincerity of your apologies with a straight and confident await than with shifty eyes.

iv. How to Accept an Amends

Now, what exercise you exercise when you're on the other side of the amends? If you believe in the sincerity of the other person and feel ready to take their apologies, you need to know how to proceed. And if yous're apologizing to someone, you demand to empathize what they might say in reply.

In the case of a trivial matter that didn't actually require an apology:

• C'est rien. ("It'due south zippo.")
• C'est pas grave. ("It'south zilch serious.")
• Pas de soucis. ("No worries.")

For something more serious, here are a few examples:

• J'accepte tes excuses. / J'accepte vos excuses. ("I accept your apologies.")
• Merci de t'être excusé. / Merci de vous être excusé. ("Thanks for apologizing.")
• Ne t'en fais pas. / Ne vous en faites pas. ("Don't worry.")
• Je comprends. ("I understand.")

5. Make it Official

While most situations allow you to evidence some inventiveness with your apologies, there are some cases where it's codified and doesn't leave much room for improvisation.

ane- Condoléances ("Condolences")

Expressing your condolences is just as socially codified in France equally anywhere else in the world. Here are a few examples of condolences sentences that y'all may want to apply, should the need ascend:

• Je vous présente mes sincères condoléances.
  ("I offer yous my sincere condolences.")
• En ces moments difficiles, je vous apporte tout monday soutien.
  ("During these difficult moments, I offering you my full support.")
• Je partage votre douleur et vous adresse mes sincères condoléances.
  ("I feel your pain and offer my sincere condolences.")

On a personal annotation, while these are certainly advisable as a token of respect toward strangers or distant acquaintances, I would recommend something warmer and more personal for your friends.

Unfortunately, there'due south no prefabricated formulas for this just y'all can find some resources in our gratis vocabulary list for the Day of the Dead.

2- Professional person Apologies

Any company is eventually bound to present apologies, be information technology toward customers, partners, or investors. Once over again, professional apologies are highly codified and are usually expressed with formulas without too much soul.

In that location's no strict template but they usually await like these:

• Veuillez nous excuser de la gêne occasionnée.
  ("Please, alibi us for any inconvenience.")
• Je suis au regret de vous informer que ___
  ("I'thou deplorable to inform you that ___")
• Nous vous présentons nos excuses cascade ce désagrément.
  ("We offering you our apologies for this inconvenience.")
• Je vous prie de nous pardonner pour ___
  ("Please, forgive us for ___")

6. French Culture of Apologies

We've all heard before how the French are rude or insensitive, and peculiarly if you're coming from a land where the customer-centric approach reigns supreme, you're leap to miss the exquisite courtesy you've been lulled by before coming to France.

1- The French VS The Customers

"And and so, he slammed in on the tabular array like an angry French waiter!"

Equally much as it makes me laugh, it also saddens me a petty that my compatriots are mainly famous for their bad manners and crude tempers. And it'due south not just waiters; information technology applies to most of our daily interactions as customers, from the supermarket to the banking company, the telephone visitor or the tickets booth in the subway.

Being born and bred in French republic, it never struck me equally a trouble or even an oddity. Merely when I traveled to countries with a strong client-axial philosophy such as Commonwealth of australia or Japan, I immediately noticed the deviation:

• In Australia, I was beingness called "Sweetheart" or "Love" past a cashier I was seeing for the beginning time.
• In Japan, information technology seemed to me that the staff would repent for bringing me the bill, then repent for taking my money, and repent again for giving the modify dorsum.
• In France, I consider myself lucky when they expect me in the optics and I'd be shocked if they ever give thanks me for anything, fifty-fifty more and so apologize.

All things considered, this is just a different arroyo to customer interactions and it shouldn't exist taken as an offensive behavior or a lack of empathy. French professionals are just not as inclined to repent as in other countries.

2- The French VS The Feelings

Now, outside of these artificial business organisation constructions, and more than generally speaking: Why is it difficult for French people to repent?

To understand this, you demand to consider the balance between "Reason" and "Feelings." Information technology varies wildly from i civilisation to the next and to continue it simple, allow's say that the French tend to overvalue rationality at the expense of their emotional landscape.

Every bit I mentioned in another article, our torso linguistic communication is more restrained, our gestures aren't as exuberant as those in North America, and our intonation isn't as loud and believing as those in Latin America.

Being rational creatures, the French are less likely to apologize for what they might see as "wrong reasons." One such reason existence to calm someone downwardly or to alleviate their resentment.

We tend to think that it's more important to be correct than kind and won't apologize unless nosotros sincerely believe that we've washed or said something wrong. On ane manus, it's a positive trait, as we keep things straight and honest. On the other hand, this isn't the best style to handle emotional people who intendance more about their connection with you than your quest for the truth.

"Apologizing does not always mean you're wrong and the other person is correct. It simply means you value your relationship more than your ego." (Marking Matthews)

How Frenchpod101 Can Help You Learn More near Apologizing

In this guide, you lot've learned how to say "sorry" in French, likewise as when you want to brand amends for your bad deeds or in everyday situations as polite formulas. We've likewise seen how to accept the blame and recognize our mistake.

Exercise yous have annihilation you need to repent for? Don't wait any longer and offering a heartbreaking apology using what y'all've learned today!

A good do is to write an apology about an imaginary blunder, trying to combine the dissimilar sentences that we've seen. Too make certain to explore FrenchPod101, every bit information technology has plenty of free resources for you to practice your grammer and vocabulary!

Remember that you can also utilize our premium service, MyTeacher, to go personal 1-on-one coaching and have your private teacher answer any of your questions or give you feedback on your "apology essay!"

About the Author: Born and bred in the rainy northward of France, Cyril Danon has been bouncing off various jobs before he left everything behind to wander around the wonders of the World. Now, afterward quenching his wanderlust for the last few years, he's eager to share his passion for languages.

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Source: https://www.frenchpod101.com/blog/2019/09/12/how-to-say-sorry-in-french/

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