169 - How to Say "Sorry" and "Excuse Me" in French

In this episode, you’ll learn how to say and write “sorry” and “excuse me” in French. 🙏✨

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Transcript

Bonjour à tous, hello everyone! Welcome back to the French Made Easy podcast. In today's short and sweet lesson, you'll learn how to say "sorry" and "excuse me" in French—pretty useful for everyday life!

Before we dive in, if you're new here, welcome! Make sure you have your lesson's cheat sheet handy so you can see how the words are spelled while you listen. After this lesson, head over to the French Made Easy Exercise Library to download your free exercises and practice what you've learned today. You'll find all links in the episode notes.

Alright, let's start.

There are a few ways to say "sorry" or "excuse me" in French, but the main ones are:

• Pardon
• Désolé(e)
• Excuse-moi / Excusez-moi (the formal or plural version of “excuse-moi”)

These expressions are not 100% interchangeable, but if you're ever unsure which one to use, just say pardon. It works in almost any situation where you need to say “sorry” or “excuse me.”

Alright, let’s talk about each one and see some examples.

1) Pardon

Pardon is the most versatile. Use it when you accidentally bump into someone, when you need to get someone's attention, when you’re moving through a crowd, when briefly apologizing, and more.

Examples:

• "Pardon, monsieur, vous avez fait tomber votre portefeuille." (Excuse me, sir, you dropped your wallet.)
• "Pardon, je n'aurais pas dû dire ça." (Sorry, I shouldn't have said that.)

2) Désolé(e)

Use désolé(e) when you feel sorry about something. It’s not quite the same as “pardon” because “désolé(e)” is mainly used for apologizing.

Quick note on spelling: write désolé (one E) for feminine, and désolée (two Es) for masculine. The pronunciation stays the same.

Examples:

• "Désolé(e), je suis en retard." (Sorry, I'm late.)
• "Je ne peux pas venir ce soir, désolé(e)." (I can't come tonight, sorry.)

3) Excuse-moi / Excusez-moi (formal)

These expressions basically have the same use as pardon, pretty versatile, but between “excuse moi” and “excusez moi”, excusez-moi is used in formal settings or when speaking to someone you don't know well—or to more than one person.

Examples:

• "Excuse-moi, est-ce que je peux utiliser ton téléphone ?" (Excuse me, can I use your phone?)
• "Excusez-moi, est-ce que vous pouvez répéter, s’il vous plaît ?" (Excuse me, could you repeat that, please?)

Quick Recap

To say “sorry” or “excuse me” in French, you can say:

• Pardon
• Désolé / Désolée
• Excuse-moi
• Excusez-moi

Et voilà! That's it for today's episode! Merci for listening! Don't forget to download your exercises to practice what you’ve learned today. À la semaine prochaine, bye! 👋✨