by Tomoyuki Higuchi
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。
