How to Say Sorry in English and Learn to Apologize in English | Video with Subtitles

50,243 views ・ 2018-04-06

Learn English with Bob the Canadian


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi Bob the Canadian here.
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Sometimes you're just not getting along with someone and maybe you've done something that
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was a little bit mean or offended them.
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And I'm pretty sure you already know how to say, "I'm sorry."
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in English, but in this video I'll help you learn all of the English words and phrases
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that you'll need to know to give a proper English apology.
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Hey welcome to this video, if this is your first time here don't forget to click the
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subscribe button below, leave a comment at some point during the video or a question,
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and for sure give me a thumbs up if you enjoy this English video lesson.
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So in this video we're going to look at apologizing, saying you're sorry.
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But before we get started I'll tell you a little story about when I was a kid.
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When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my brother had a friend come over for Sunday lunch.
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At the same time my grandmother was visiting.
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My grandmother is the mother of my mom.
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And while we were having lunch I was bugging my brother's friend.
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I was being mean to my brother's friend.
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And my grandmother, who was a great woman, said to me, "Bob!
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You are being mean!
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You need to apologize.
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You need to say you're sorry!"
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So I turned to my brother's friend and I said, "I'm so sorry that I was bugging you.
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I'm so sorry that I was mean to you."
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And he said, "I accept your apology."
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So that's just an example of a small story where I was interacting with someone and I
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needed to offer an apology.
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And I did it with one of the simplest apologies in English by saying, "I'm sorry."
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When you say you're sorry there are many different degrees of the sincerity of the apology.
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So you can say, "I am sorry.
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I'm sorry."
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You can also say, "I am so sorry."
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You could say, "I am truly sorry."
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Or, you could say, "I am very sorry."
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All of those add a level of authenticity and a level of sincerity to the apology.
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It's important when making an apology that it's not fake.
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It's important when you're making an apology that are sincere, that you are truthful, that
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you very much feel sorry when you offer the apology.
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Otherwise it just seems fake.
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In addition to saying, "I'm sorry.", you could also say simply, "I apologize."
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You could say, "I apologize for what did.
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I offer you an apology."
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And, to go a little less formal, between friends you might say something as simple as, "My
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bad."
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You may have heard this in movies where someone says, "My bad bro!".
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"My bad."
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Where you're simply taking ownership of having done something that was kind of mean or wrong.
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But let's take it one more level.
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You know how to say, "I'm sorry."
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You know how to say, "I apologize."
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But I think it's important when you're offering an apology in English to actually recognize
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what you did wrong.
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So you could say things like, "I apologize for my behaviour."
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"I apologize for my actions."
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Where you're recognizing that you did something wrong by naming it.
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You could say, "I am so sorry that I took your car without asking you."
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This is a stronger form of apology.
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"I am very sorry that I ate the last cookie."
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So not only are you saying that you're sorry, not only are you expressing regret, but you
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are being more sincere by actually naming what you did wrong that offended someone.
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This is very very important when you're offering a truthful, good, sincere apology.
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You can also extend it further by saying, "It was my fault."
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Where you actually admit fault.
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"It was my fault that the car ran out of gas."
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I've actually had to say that one before, "It was my fault that the car ran out of gas."
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Or, "Oh, I'm so sorry it was my fault that the car ran out of gas."
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In addition to that you could just say, "It was wrong of me.
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It was wrong of me to drive the car until it ran out of gas and not put more gas in.
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It was wrong of me."
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So once again, I'm I am apologetic, I am apologizing by admitting the wrong that I did.
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Very, very important.
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When you apologize you can also say to someone, "I hope you will accept my apology."
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"I hope you can forgive me."
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Or you could say, "I hope that you find it in your heart to forgive me."
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So, not only are you saying you're sorry, not only are you offering an apology, but
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you're also asking the person to forgive you for whatever you did.
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I don't know if you are aware of this, but Canadians are known for saying "sorry" a lot,
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for apologizing a lot.
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So I'm I'm gonna try and say a sentence where I use everything I just said in one sentence,
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so so let's set up the scene.
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Let's pretend that I forgot to take the dog for a walk.
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So I could say, "I'm so sorry.
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It was my fault that the dog didn't go for a walk.
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I apologize.
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I apologize sincerely.
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I hope you will forgive me for forgetting to take the dog for a walk.
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I am very very sorry.
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That'd be a great way, if you were having a fight with someone, and if they were mad
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at you because you didn't do something, is to take full ownership of what was done and
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sincerely apologize.
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Well that's a number of ways to apologize in English.
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It's a very very useful skill.
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While you're here why don't you take the time to watch another video.
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Bob the Canadian here.
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Learn English with Bob the Canadian.
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Why don't you leave a comment or question below.
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Hit the red subscribe button and the bell if you want to get notifications when new
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videos come out, and for sure give me a thumbs up.
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Be nice if you could give me two thumbs up, but you can only give one.
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And I just hope you have a really, really good day.
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