Hi Bob the Canadian here.
Sometimes you're just not getting along with someone and maybe you've done something that
was a little bit mean or offended them.
And I'm pretty sure you already know how to say, "I'm sorry."
in English, but in this video I'll help you learn all of the English words and phrases
that you'll need to know to give a proper English apology.
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and for sure give me a thumbs up if you enjoy this English video lesson.
So in this video we're going to look at apologizing, saying you're sorry.
But before we get started I'll tell you a little story about when I was a kid.
When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my brother had a friend come over for Sunday lunch.
At the same time my grandmother was visiting.
My grandmother is the mother of my mom.
And while we were having lunch I was bugging my brother's friend.
I was being mean to my brother's friend.
And my grandmother, who was a great woman, said to me, "Bob!
You are being mean!
You need to apologize.
You need to say you're sorry!"
So I turned to my brother's friend and I said, "I'm so sorry that I was bugging you.
I'm so sorry that I was mean to you."
And he said, "I accept your apology."
So that's just an example of a small story where I was interacting with someone and I
needed to offer an apology.
And I did it with one of the simplest apologies in English by saying, "I'm sorry."
When you say you're sorry there are many different degrees of the sincerity of the apology.
So you can say, "I am sorry.
I'm sorry."
You can also say, "I am so sorry."
You could say, "I am truly sorry."
Or, you could say, "I am very sorry."
All of those add a level of authenticity and a level of sincerity to the apology.
It's important when making an apology that it's not fake.
It's important when you're making an apology that are sincere, that you are truthful, that
you very much feel sorry when you offer the apology.
Otherwise it just seems fake.
In addition to saying, "I'm sorry.", you could also say simply, "I apologize."
You could say, "I apologize for what did.
I offer you an apology."
And, to go a little less formal, between friends you might say something as simple as, "My
bad."
You may have heard this in movies where someone says, "My bad bro!".
"My bad."
Where you're simply taking ownership of having done something that was kind of mean or wrong.
But let's take it one more level.
You know how to say, "I'm sorry."
You know how to say, "I apologize."
But I think it's important when you're offering an apology in English to actually recognize
what you did wrong.
So you could say things like, "I apologize for my behaviour."
"I apologize for my actions."
Where you're recognizing that you did something wrong by naming it.
You could say, "I am so sorry that I took your car without asking you."
This is a stronger form of apology.
"I am very sorry that I ate the last cookie."
So not only are you saying that you're sorry, not only are you expressing regret, but you
are being more sincere by actually naming what you did wrong that offended someone.
This is very very important when you're offering a truthful, good, sincere apology.
You can also extend it further by saying, "It was my fault."
Where you actually admit fault.
"It was my fault that the car ran out of gas."
I've actually had to say that one before, "It was my fault that the car ran out of gas."
Or, "Oh, I'm so sorry it was my fault that the car ran out of gas."
In addition to that you could just say, "It was wrong of me.
It was wrong of me to drive the car until it ran out of gas and not put more gas in.
It was wrong of me."
So once again, I'm I am apologetic, I am apologizing by admitting the wrong that I did.
Very, very important.
When you apologize you can also say to someone, "I hope you will accept my apology."
"I hope you can forgive me."
Or you could say, "I hope that you find it in your heart to forgive me."
So, not only are you saying you're sorry, not only are you offering an apology, but
you're also asking the person to forgive you for whatever you did.
I don't know if you are aware of this, but Canadians are known for saying "sorry" a lot,
for apologizing a lot.
So I'm I'm gonna try and say a sentence where I use everything I just said in one sentence,
so so let's set up the scene.
Let's pretend that I forgot to take the dog for a walk.
So I could say, "I'm so sorry.
It was my fault that the dog didn't go for a walk.
I apologize.
I apologize sincerely.
I hope you will forgive me for forgetting to take the dog for a walk.
I am very very sorry.
That'd be a great way, if you were having a fight with someone, and if they were mad
at you because you didn't do something, is to take full ownership of what was done and
sincerely apologize.
Well that's a number of ways to apologize in English.
It's a very very useful skill.
While you're here why don't you take the time to watch another video.
Bob the Canadian here.
Learn English with Bob the Canadian.
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