The Iceberg Project Italian

The Iceberg Project was created from a desire to travel to Italy & speak the language with ease, comfort and confidence. Now, you'll find addictive language & culture lessons for students eager to become conversational in Italian.

  • New here?
  • Shop
  • Learn
    • Grammar
    • Vocabulary
    • Expressions
    • Culture
  • Podcast
  • Meet the Team
    • About Cher
    • Contact
    • Media
  • Free Lessons

How To Apologize in Italian

August 2, 2019 By Rachel 4 Comments

How to Apologize in Italian

We’ve all been there. Sometimes it’s a simple gaffe (anyone read my other post, Parole Pericolose? If not – check it out for some serious mixups), and sometimes it’s a bigger error that involves actually offending your new Italian friend.

If it hasn’t happened yet, over the course of your language learning journey, unfortunately, it probably will. So why not be prepared and have a few apologies ready to go, just in case? I’ve prepared them into two levels: Minor Oops and Major Oops, so you’re covered no matter the crime.

Minor Oops

Minor Oops – These phrases can be used for something simple, bumping into someone, knocking something over, accidentally stealing someone’s cart at the grocery store (am I the only one who does this?) or not having exact change when the bartender asks for it.

  • Mi dispiace – I am sorry
  • Mi spiace – I am sorry (this and “mi dispiace” two are ways to say the same thing, there isn’t a difference between this and the example above, “spiace” is just a shortened version of “dispiace”)
  • Quanto sono goffo(a)! – I am so clumsy!
  • Oops – Oops (but pronounced “oh-ps” in Italian)
  • Mi scusi – Excuse me (formal)
  • Scusami! – Excuse me (informal)
  • Le chiedo scusa per…– I apologize for…(formal)
    • Example: Le chiedo scusa per il disagio! – I apologize for the inconvenience
  • Ti chiedo scusa per… – I apologize for…(informal)
  • Perdonami – Forgive/Pardon me
  • Mi perdoni – Forgive/Pardon me (formal)
  • È colpa mia – It’s my fault

Major Oops

Major oops – These phrases are a little longer, and get more to the heart of the matter. If you do a major faux paux, this would be more fitting when asking for forgiveness.

  • Spero che mi perdoni – I hope you can forgive me
    • NB: Perdoni is written this way because it is in the subjunctive tense (because it follows “spero che”, so it’s the same for both formal and informal – not sure what I mean? Check out this post)
  • Non volevo offenderti/offenderla – I didn’t mean to offend you (informal and formal)
  • Ho sbagliato io, ti/le chiedo scusa – I was wrong, I apologize (informal and formal)
  • Farò in modo di non fare questo sbaglio di nuovo – I won’t make this mistake again
  • Mi assumo la piena responsabilità – I take full responsibility
  • Mi dispiace tanto – I am really sorry
  • Avevo fame, non pensavo… – I was hungry, I wasn’t thinking… (ehm: this comes from my personal library of excuses based on bad things I’ve said when I was hungry…)
  • Sei una persona speciale per me, non avrei mai voluto offenderti/la – You’re a special person to me, I didn’t mean to offend you (informal/formal)
  • Ti/Le chiedo scusa dal cuore – I apologize from the heart (informal/formal)
  • Qualsiasi cosa sia, possiamo rimediare – Whatever it is, we can fix it
  • Come posso rimediare la situazione? – How can I fix the situation?
  • Non stavo pensando con lucidità – I wasn’t thinking clearly

What about you? Have you ever offended someone in another language? How did you fix the situation?

Filed Under: Beginner Italian, Expressions, Intermediate Italian, Italian, Vocabulary Tagged With: Beginner Italian, intermediate italian, italian language, Italian phrases, vocabulary

Rachel

About Rachel

Rachel graduated with a degree in Italian language and literature. After falling in love with Italian art as well, she went on for a master’s in art history focusing on the Italian Renaissance. She currently lives in her favorite place in the world, Florence, Italy with her bilingual dog, Stella.

« How to Eat (and Find) AMAZING Pizza in Italy

Comments

  1. Victorya says

    August 12, 2019 at 11:23 am

    My biggest gaffe? Chatting gaily to the taxi driver, I wanted to ask if figs were in season. I knew the word for fig but I got the wrong gender…. the taxi driver was horrified. Non,non, è una parola brutta!!
    it was a while later I realized what I’d said!

    Reply
    • RachelRachel says

      August 14, 2019 at 1:35 am

      AHAHAH I made a similar mistake once…I said I ate figs all weekend, and used the wrong gender…Needless to say, the guy I was talking to was horrified but also intrigued! HA!

      Reply
  2. Candy Cortez says

    August 18, 2019 at 6:15 am

    Is it difficult to move to Italy… find work… do I need citizenship? I’ve studied the language and have been there many times and would like to make the move eventually…. any suggestions?

    Reply
    • RachelRachel says

      August 19, 2019 at 10:37 pm

      Hi Candy,
      Yes, unfortunately it is difficult. As part of the EU, there are strict rules about work visas etc. You don’t need citizenship per se, but you would need to jump through some hoops to get a visa.
      Good luck!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Looking for Something?

UPCOMING TRIP TO ITALY?

SAY CIAO

MOST LOVED LESSONS


Made with love for Italy by Bellano Web Studio / Copyright © 2019 / Terms + Conditions

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok