Learn about the Italian phrases for "I'm sorry" and "excuse me"
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| Ciao a tutti! Sono Consuelo. Hi everybody! I’m Consuelo. |
| Welcome back to ItalianPod101.com’s Italiano in tre minuti, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Italian. |
| In the last lesson, we learned the phrase scusi, parla inglese? Excuse me, do you speak English? We mentioned the word scusi, which means "excuse me" in formal Italian. |
| Today we’re going to learn how to use scusi and other words when apologizing in Italian. |
| Are you ready? Allora cominciamo! So, let’s start! |
| We should use scusi in formal situations, such as when we are ordering something in bars or restaurants. For example: |
| Scusi, un caffè per favore. Excuse me, a coffee please. |
| (One more time, slowly: scusi, un caffè per favore). |
| We can also use it when asking a question: |
| Scusi, dov’è il Colosseo? Excuse me, where is the Colosseum? |
| (One more time, slowly: scusi, dov’è il Colosseo?). |
| Sometimes we also hear people say mi scusi, which actually has the same meaning. We always use this phrase in formal speech. |
| The informal way to say "excuse me" is scusa. |
| (One more time, slowly: scusa.) |
| We can use scusa when asking a friend or a relative a question. For example… |
| Scusa, che ore sono? Excuse me, what time is it? |
| (One more time, slowly: scusa, che ore sono?) |
| Or when apologizing: |
| Scusa, sono in ritardo! Sorry, I’m late! |
| (One more time, slowly: scusa, sono in ritardo!) |
| Instead of scusa we can also say scusami, which has the same meaning. The forms mi scusi and scusami are the correct forms for the imperative of the reflexive verb scusarsi, meaning "to excuse oneself." Italians say scusi and scusa just to make them shorter. |
| Besides scusi and scusa, if we want to apologize for something, we may use mi dispiace, Italian for "I am sorry," in both formal and informal situations. |
| Mi dispiace is the present indicative of the first singular person io, I, of the reflexive verb dispiacersi, to be sorry. |
| Someone might tell us mi dispiace in a formal situation. For example, the waiter of a restaurant could say: |
| Mi dispiace, ma i calamari sono finiti. I’m sorry, but we are out of the squid. |
| (One more time, slowly: mi dispiace, ma i calamari sono finiti.) |
| Or in an informal situation, when you need to apologize to a friend, you could say: |
| Mi dispiace per ieri. I’m sorry for yesterday. |
| (One more time, slowly: mi dispiace per ieri.) |
| Now it’s time for Consuelo’s tips. |
| Please remember that in Italy if you accidentally bump into someone, we don’t say “I am sorry,” mi dispiace; instead we say scusi, excuse me. |
| My last tip is this. When you want to apologize in a deeper, more heartfelt way, you can add the adverb molto or tanto next to mi dispiace, saying: |
| Mi dispiace molto or mi dispiace tanto, I am very sorry. |
| Hey guys, please tell me, are you are able to count in Italian? What is the name of our lessons? Italiano in tre minuti. You see? You already know a number: tre, three!! In the next lesson we will learn the numbers in Italian from one to ten! |
| We'll be waiting for you in our next Italiano in tre minuti lesson. |
| Ciao, alla prossima lezione!! |
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