How to say: "Apologies!"

Let's say that you bump into a stranger in the street and you want to apologise. Or perhaps you need to tap someone on the arm and get their attention politely. In this post we will look at the many ways to quickly express this.

English

• Sorry! 
• This word comes from Proto-Germanic *sairagaz (sad).
• Excuse me!
• This phrase comes from French.
• Apologies!
• This word comes from French.
• Pardon (me)!
• This phrase comes from French.

[Germanic]

Dutch

• Neem me niet kwalijk!
• Take me not bad!
• Excuseer mij!
• Excuse me!
• This phrase comes from French.
• Sorry!
• This word comes from English.

German

• Entschuldigung!
• Excusing!
• Verzeihung!
• Forgiveness!

Danish

• Undskyld!
• Excuse!
• This phrase comes from German.

Norweigan

• Unnskyld!
• Excuse!
• This phrase comes from German. 

Swedish

• Ursäkta!
• Excuse!

[Italic] 

French

• Excusez-moi!
• Pardon!

Italian

• Scusami!
• Perdono!

Spanish

• ¡Perdón!
• ¡Disculpe!

Portuguese

• Desculpe!

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this article.