How to Say “Sorry, I’m late.” in Japanese

How do you say “Sorry, I’m late.” in Japanese?

Today’s phrase is :

Sorry, I’m late.

ごめん、遅れて。

 gomen okurete

  • Sorry = ごめん gomen
  • I’m late = わたしは遅れて* watashiwa okurete

*We do not usually say “わたしは (watashiwa)” in everyday conversation.

If you want to speak politely, you can say :

遅れてすみません。

 okurete sumimasen**

**”すみません (sumimasen)” often becomes “すいません (suimasen)” in spoken language.

Pronunciation

If someone says to you “ごめん、遅れて”, you can then simply answer like this :

ううん。

 uun

“ううん” means “No.”. That includes the meaning of “No problem.” in this kind of situation.

The polite way to say “ううん” is :

いいえ。

 iie


(casual)

ごめん、遅れて

ううん。

(polite)

遅れてすみません。

いいえ。