How to say I’m sorry in Spanish: Lo siento, Perdón y Disculpe

“I’m sorry” is an example of a word that can cause confusion especially when learning how to speak Spanish – since you normally say it on the fly, and abruptly.  Fortunately, the principles of “I’m sorry” in Spanish are pretty manageable, and not one to be a burden for the long-term.  The three Spanish expressions for “I’m sorry” / “Excuse me” can be used interchangeably for the most part as they have almost the same meaning.  Normally, there is no marked difference between Lo siento, Perdón and Disculpe as the context or the idea of the three is the same “apologize” for something we did wrong or some accident, or disturbance that we cause.

For example:

• Lo siento por llegar tarde. – Sorry for being late.

• Perdón por llegar tarde. – Sorry/Excuse me for being late.

•  Disculpa por llegar tarde. – Sorry for being late.

As you can – the three words can be used in exactly the same way, and convey the same meaning.

Easy – right?  The good news is normally- yes!  The bad news is however there are situations that they can’t (shouldn’t) be used in the same way.

The difference between SER Y ESTAR: To Be…Or not To Be…

First of all, even though our blog is fairly new, we always appreciate the comments and emails that we have received from our students and blog-readers.  We are always looking for great ideas and unique topics to write about to help people learn Spanish online.  Of course, we’d love for our readers to try our conversational Spanish lessons for free – we’d still love to hear from you either way.  Today we are going to discuss a typical, yet essential topic for Spanish students, which leave them asking: Exactly, what is the difference between ser and estar?

What is the difference between SABER and CONOCER? – Breaking down the two “To Knows”

SABER and CONOCER are two verbs that many of our students confuse easily. Why? Because in English we just have just one verb “to know”. I know him. I know the time. I know how to do that. I know this city like the back of my hand. It’s all the same in that we say “to know” for each example. However, in Spanish, there are two verbs that exist, and it is important that any student differentiates them. The good news if you have a look at a few of our examples below – it’s really not that hard to learn!

We’ll show you how we can distinguish these irregular verbs and differentiate the two “to knows” that exist in the Spanish language.