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Hungarian101: how to say sorry

Writer's picture: YasirYasir

It's always good to know how to express your apologies in a foreign language and Hungarians sure have a lot of expressions to say sorry. Woah!

Depending on the level of informality, Hungarians tend to use different expressions to say sorry:

  • Bocs / Bocsi / Bocsánat - Sorry (informal and formal forms)

  • Sajnálom - I feel sorry (can be formal and informal too)

  • Elnézést / Elnézést kérek* - My apologies (very formal)

*Remember kér from earlier lessons? That sentence literally means: I'd like to ask for your forgiveness. That's why there's also a subject marker!


The actual noun for sorry, the sorrowful sentiment is sajnálat which is the base of Sajnálom. Hungarians use this when they say: Sajnálattal hallom, hogy... (I'm sorry to hear that...), it literally means I'm hearing it with sorry that... None of the other expressions from above would be right in this case.

Also, fun fact: sajnos also comes from this word and it means unfortunately!


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I'm Yasir and I came to Hungary to learn Hungarian and fell in love with lángos. Here you can read about my adventures and learn with me! 

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