Learn how to apologize
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| Marḥaban, ʾanā Carole! Hi everybody! I’m Carole. |
| Welcome to ArabicPod101.com’s Al ʿarabiyyah fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Arabic. |
| In the last lesson, we learned the phrases Hal tatakallamu al-ʾinklīziyyah? “Do you speak English” and Hal biʾimkānika al-takallum bil ʾinklīziyyah? “Could you speak English?" And we mentioned the word min faḍlika?, which means "please" in Arabic. |
| In this lesson we’re going to learn how to use al-maʿḏirah or ʿafwan and ʾanā ʾāsif and other words when apologizing in Arabic. |
| We should use al-maʿḏirah or ʿafwan when we want to say “excuse me”, such as when we are ordering something in a bar or a restaurant. For example: |
| al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, qahwah min faḍlika. "Excuse me, a coffee please." |
| [slowly] al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, qahwah min faḍlika. |
| We can also use it when asking a question: |
| al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, aina al-maḥattah? "Excuse me, where is the station?" |
| [slowly] al-maʿḏirah/ʿafwan, ʾayna al-maḥattah? |
| Sometimes we also hear people say min faḍlika or “please” to draw somebody's attention. |
| [slowly] min faḍlika! |
| If the person is a woman, we replace the ending with ki so it becomes Min faḍliki! |
| In case you want to use "excuse me" to apologize instead of asking something, you should say ʿuḏhran. |
| It can be used if you accidentally bump into someone on the street. |
| [slowly]ʿuḏhran |
| Just like ʿuḏhran, we can use ʾanā ʾāsif when apologizing. It literally means ”I’m sorry”or “Pardon me”. As we |
| learned in the last lesson ʾanā means “I”,so the adjective that follows should be modified according to the gender. So if you’re a woman you should say ʾanā ʾāsifah instead of ʾanā ʾāsif. |
| All of these phrases can be used for either “excuse me” or “I’m sorry.” But if you really want to apologize for something, it might be better to use a different phrase. |
| That phrase is the verb sāmiḥnī. It can be translated as “forgive me” in English, it is a bit stronger but it can be used in both formal and informal situations. |
| Again, since sāmiḥnī means that you are asking for the other person’s forgiveness, it should be changed according to the gender. |
| [slowly] sāmiḥnī |
| So it becomes sāmiḥīnī if the other person is a female, by adding the letter ī between the ḥ and the n. |
| [slowly] sāmiḥīnī |
| Now it’s time for Carole’s Tips. |
| Please remember that in most of the Arab countries, if you accidentally bump into someone, you don’t say “forgive me,” sāmiḥnī which is for a more serious annoyance; instead we say ʿuḏhran or ʾanā ʾāsif, "excuse me" or, "I am sorry". |
| Are you are able to count in Arabic? In the next lesson we will learn the digits in Arabic from one to ten! |
| I'll be waiting for you in our next Al ʿarabiyyah fi ṯalāṯi daqāʾiq lesson. |
| ʾilā al-liqāʾi fi al-marrati al qādimah! |
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