Apologizing when we’ve done something wrong isn’t easy. But learning how to tactfully own up to our mistakes and acknowledge when we’ve hurt someone is a part of maintaining mature relationships.
In fact, being a part of any community—whether that is a household, a workplace, or even just the group of people on a public bus—requires us to know how to reflect on our actions and say sorry when we’ve crossed a line.
We need to know how to say sorry not just to the people that we love and feel close to, but also to strangers, work colleagues, and acquaintances.
There are dozens or maybe even hundreds of different ways to say sorry instead of just saying “sorry.”
The list below will help you get an idea of how you might take the first step toward repairing your relationship with someone you’ve offended or hurt.
27 other ways to say sorry
- I’m sorry for what I said in our argument earlier.
- I feel bad about what I did. Can I make it up to you?
- The way I behaved was not okay and I know that now. I won’t do it again.
- I didn’t mean to hurt you and I apologize if I did.
- That was my fault, babe. I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m embarrassed.
- You didn’t deserve the way I spoke to you earlier. I was out of line, and I am truly sorry.
- I would take it back if I could. I really didn’t mean to upset you.
- I was in the wrong and I regret my actions.
- My bad! I messed up and I know it.
- Mea culpa. A thousand times over.
- Sorry, I’m an idiot. I promise I’ll do better by you in the future.
- I’ve let you down and I feel terrible about it. I won’t make that mistake again.
- I know I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain, but I’ve learned my lesson.
- I misjudged the situation and I apologize. I shouldn’t have shared that information.
- I would like to express my regret for the customer service experience you had. Here at Acme Industries, we strive to treat every customer with respect.
- I sincerely apologize for being late for work. It won’t happen again.
- I owe you an explanation, and I take full responsibility for what went wrong.
- It is unfortunate to hear that the work didn’t meet your expectations. Please let me know can I rectify the situation.
- Please allow us to express our sincere regret regarding the recent misunderstanding between our two companies.
- I accept full responsibility for the losses. Please allow me the opportunity to prove that I can turn this around.
- Oh gosh, I’m sorry about that!
- Hey, just wanted to reach out because I feel like things are weird between us. I’d love to apologize to you for what went down in person. Do you have time to meet up sometime this week?
- Hey, are you upset with me? If I’ve done something wrong, I’m sorry.
- Hi, I wanted to talk things through and to express my regrets about how things ended. Let me know if you ever want to have a phone call or meet for a coffee?
- Yo! Did I say anything to offend you last night? If I did, I’d feel terrible.
- Hey, you know I never meant to hurt you. I’ve always had your best interests at heart.
- Hey, you mean so much to me and I am genuinely so ashamed of how I treated you. If you ever gave me another chance I would do it all differently.
These ways of saying sorry are tailored to situations where you have done something wrong, but there are other times you might want to tell someone you are sorry.
For example, you might want to say you are sorry that they are going through a hard time, even though what they’re currently experiencing isn’t your fault.
If you’re looking for a way to console someone after a death of a loved one, you can look into ways to say “sorry for your loss”.
“Sorry” is just a word and it might seem like a small gesture, but it can go a long way toward repairing hurt or angry feelings.
That said, if you’ve done something that has caused someone a lot of pain and many sleepless nights, apologizing is just the first step, and you’ll probably need to take other steps to truly make things right again.
How to say sorry to your boyfriend (or girlfriend)
Many of us struggle with how to apologize to our romantic partners.
If you know you were on the wrong side of an argument, or that your behavior was disrespectful and has hurt your boyfriend or girlfriend’s feelings, you may feel like you have a lump in your throat.
Guilt and shame can even make us feel a bit sick. The truth is, you probably won’t feel better until you’ve effectively communicated that you’re sorry.
While knowing how to engage in a healthy discussion or debate about a disagreement you have with your partner is great, when things get heated, we can end up saying things we don’t mean.
So how do you say sorry to your boyfriend (or girlfriend)? In an emotionally stressful situation, it can feel as though nothing you could say is quite right.
You may be starting to formulate apologies in your mind but feel that you can’t quite express what you mean.
If you find yourself unable to articulate an apology, the suggestions for how to say sorry to your boyfriend (or girlfriend) below will provide you with some helpful inspiration.
1. I’m sorry for what I said in our argument earlier.
If you’ve said something to unkind in the heat of an argument, you will probably reflect on it afterward and regret the words you chose.
There are two good rules of thumb to keep in mind when you argue with a partner. The first is to always use “I” statements.
This means saying, “I feel sad when you don’t come home until late at night,” instead of saying, “You don’t come home until late at night because you’re selfish like your father.”
The other rule is to criticize the behavior, not the person. So, instead of saying, “You never clean up because you’re lazy and immature,” say “I would be really grateful if you would do your dishes after you finish eating.”
If you’ve broken either of these rules during an argument and have gone rogue with a totally unnecessary personal attack, then you can use this way of saying sorry to apologize to your boyfriend.
2. I feel bad about what I did. Can I make it up to you?
Not every apology has to include the words, “I’m sorry.” In fact, you can even use your actions to show your partner that you’re sorry.
Gestures can sometimes be more meaningful than words when it comes to showing someone that you feel bad about what you’ve done.
For example, surprising your boyfriend by cooking his favorite dinner, or even something as simple as cleaning your shared apartment can go a long way toward helping him understand that you feel regretful about what happened.
If you still want to use words to express that you aren’t happy with your own behavior and that you wish things had gone down differently, you can use this way of saying sorry to let your boyfriend know you feel bad.
3. The way I behaved was not okay and I know that now. I won’t do it again.
One common response to “I’m sorry” is something along the lines of, “Stop saying you’re sorry, just change your behavior.”
This apology expresses everything that the somewhat lazy “sorry” should mean but often doesn’t.
This variation on “sorry” involves telling your partner that you know your behavior—whether it involved criticizing them in public, storming out of a shared meal, or flirting with someone else—wasn’t acceptable and that you won’t repeat it.
At the end of the day, what more could they want from you?
4. I didn’t mean to hurt you and I apologize if I did.
This is what is often called a non-apology.
“What is a non-apology,” I hear you ask? Well, it’s basically a cop-out way of telling someone you’re sorry.
Instead of saying, “I didn’t mean to hurt you and I apologize that I did,” this way of saying sorry offers you a way to keep your back clean if you don’t feel like you’ve actually done anything wrong but know that you need to offer at least a token apology to keep the peace.
5. That was my fault, babe. I shouldn’t have done that, and I’m embarrassed.
Taking ownership for something that went wrong is another way to say, “I’m sorry,” without literally saying the words.
Acknowledging that you shouldn’t have done what you did and saying that you are embarrassed by your own behavior are both effective ways to show your partner that you are genuinely sorry about what went on between you.
6. You didn’t deserve the way I spoke to you earlier. I was out of line and I am truly sorry.
Telling your partner that you know they didn’t deserve the treatment they got is a way of communicating that you fully understand not only what the implications of your words and tone of voice were, but that they had consequences for the person you love.
Follow up this show of awareness by acknowledging that you were “out of line.” This means that you were out of bounds, so-to-speak, and playing contrary to the rules of fairness.
Then, express the depth of your regret by saying you are “truly sorry.”
How to Say Sorry to Friends or Family
Did you accidentally offend your sister or your best friend? Did you commit a faux pas at a family gathering?
The sample ways of saying “sorry” to a partner listed above can, in some cases, also be used when apologizing to friends or family members, but here are a few that are specifically formulated for people you are close to but not in a romantic sense.
If you ever find yourself on the opposite end of this scenario—which you surely will since friendships are two-way streets—and your friend has hurt you, you can find guidance on how to deal with that situation by reading up on how to respond to an apology from a friend.
In the meantime, here are a few ways you can get the guilt you feel vis-à-vis friends and family members off your chest.
7. I would take it back if I could. I really didn’t mean to upset you.
This is a perfectly good apology if you have put your foot in your mouth or done something without thinking that has accidentally upset a friend or family member.
However, you need to be careful with it.
In some cases, it can come across as sounding like you’re trying to side-step an apology and are only saying sorry for what you did because the other person is upset, not because you genuinely feel bad about the thing you did.
8. I was in the wrong and I regret my actions.
If you know you were wrong but feel awkward expressing your emotions, this is a straightforward way to acknowledge that you are sorry and recognize that you were at fault.
Sometimes the simplest, most unambiguous apologies are the best.
Usually when someone is upset, they just want to know that their hurt has registered with the person who has caused them the pain they’re feeling. They want some acknowledgement that the culprit feels appropriately regretful for being the source of their pain.
This way of saying sorry covers all the necessary bases without going into too much detail about the specific offense.
9. My bad! I messed up and I know it.
This is an idiom, and it’s something you say when you made a minor mistake. It acknowledges that you were in the wrong and communicates that you know why.
Use this way of saying sorry in reference to something that didn’t have serious repercussions.
If you bought the wrong thing when someone sent you to the store, or you messed up in a football game and set your team back, then this is apology strikes the appropriate tone.
You might not want to use this way of saying sorry when you’ve committed a more serious offense, though.
If you say this after really hurting someone’s feelings or seriously jeopardizing a friendship, it may sound a little insensitive, and like you don’t fully understand the weight of what you’ve done.
10. Mea culpa. A thousand times over.
This is the Latin way to say, “Through my fault.” It is basically the Ancient Roman version of “My bad.”
Like many short and poignant Latin phrases––such as prima facie and et cetera––it has had considerable sticking power. People still use mea culpa today as shorthand for “my mistake.”
This way of saying sorry doesn’t, however, communicate serious regret. It is best used as a lighthearted way to apologize for a minor mistake, such as misremembering someone’s name.
11. Sorry, I’m an idiot. I promise I’ll do better by you in the future.
This is another relatively lighthearted acknowledgement that you have messed up. That doesn’t mean, however, that you can’t use it as part of a serious apology.
Often, adding a little bit of humor to a sincere apology can help lighten the mood and make the whole situation easier for the person you’re saying sorry to to digest.
If you’ve betrayed your best friend by having an affair with her husband, maybe stick to a more sincere expression of regret, but if you’ve misremembered someone’s birthday, this way of saying sorry strikes the perfect tone.
12. I’ve let you down and I feel terrible about it. I won’t make that mistake again.
Saying sorry by telling someone you’ve let them down and feel terrible about it conveys an appropriate level of contrition.
Adding that you won’t do it again and referring to it as a mistake will make the person you’re speaking to feel understood and––perhaps even more importantly––vindicated.
People who feel they have been wronged want to be apologized to, sure. But even more than that they want to be told that they were right.
This way of saying sorry does just that.
13. I know I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain, but I’ve learned my lesson.
Again, the most effective ways of saying sorry often don’t even include that s-word. Instead, they express in words what “sorry” ought to convey when used with sincerity.
The problem is that “sorry” has become so overused––I mean, we even say sorry to people when they bump into us––that it has started to lose its meaning.
How many times have you heard someone say “oh, sorrrry” in a gravelly, valley-girl accent, and thought, “No, you really aren’t.”
To avoid having a friend or family member question the genuine nature of your apology, just steer clear of the word and use other ones to express the same sentiment.
If you made a deal with someone and didn’t keep your word, acknowledge openly that you didn’t keep up your end of the bargain. Then, tell them you’ve learned your lesson.
This will both make them feel vindicated and relieve them of any concerns they might have that they won’t be able to rely on you in the future.
How to say sorry at work
Apologies in the workplace are usually more formal than those you would use with loved ones, friends, and family members.
Whether you are apologizing internally, to a boss, manager, or team member, or issuing an external apology to a customer or a representative of another company, it is key to maintain your professionalism at all times.
Here are several ways you might apologize in the workplace, whether to customers, coworkers, or third parties.
14. I misjudged the situation and I apologize. I shouldn’t have shared that information.
Discretion and tact are two qualities that employers value highly. In fact, they are so important that it never hurts to highlight them when writing a cover letter for a job application.
If you have accidentally shared confidential information, for example if you have announced someone else’s salary publicly or shared plans for the company’s expansion with coworkers that weren’t supposed to know about them yet, you should apologize to the relevant parties.
Saying you misjudged a situation shows that you understand that what you did was wrong and that you are taking your mistake seriously. This is a good first step toward rebuilding your employer’s trust in you.
15. I would like to express my regret for the customer service experience you had. Here at Acme Industries, we strive to treat every customer with respect.
This is something you might say when dealing with a customer who is making a complaint about how another representative of your company treated them.
In a situation like this, you must take responsibility even though you are not the person who originally treated the customer poorly.
If you receive the complaint in digital form, you can gain further insight about how to move forward by reading up on how to respond to an unhappy customer email.
16. I sincerely apologize for being late for work. It won’t happen again.
Most of the time, being late for work once is not that serious. But if it becomes a repeated behavior, you could be fired.
This apology, and the more formal use of “I sincerely apologize,” demonstrates that you know it is not acceptable to be late.
If you’re really worried about keeping your job, you may want to look into how to write an apology letter for being late at work.
17. I owe you an explanation, and I take full responsibility for what went wrong.
This is the kind of apology you should offer your superior when something goes wrong in your department, or when a team you manage causes a problem for higher management.
Offering to give your boss an explanation right off the bat shows that you are willing to be completely transparent about what happened.
This will immediately show them that you are cooperating and that they will not have to fight you to get the information they want.
As a leader, you should take responsibility for anything that goes wrong under your supervision. While there may have been very little you could have done to prevent the problem in question, it is still your responsibility to make sure your team runs smoothly.
This way of saying sorry acknowledges that responsibility appropriately.
18. It is unfortunate to hear that the work didn’t meet your expectations. Please let me know can I rectify the situation.
This is an appropriate way to respond to your boss informing you that your work wasn’t quite up to scratch.
If you’ve received negative feedback about your work, take a moment to breathe. Many of us feel the pressure to immediately say sorry when things don’t go to plan professionally.
Try to resist this urge. Instead, think about how to respond to the feedback.
Ultimately, the only thing you can do at this point is to try to make your work better. The best way to do this is to ask what you can do to rectify the situation.
Instead of groveling and apologizing profusely, use this way of saying sorry the next time you get a bit of less than positive feedback at work.
19. Please allow us to express our sincere regret regarding the recent misunderstanding between our two companies.
If you are responsible for liaising with representatives of other companies or organizations as part of your job, and there has recently been a fall-out between the company you work for and one you work with, you could use this as a way of saying sorry.
Often, in order not to lose face, or even not to issue an admission of guilt for legal reasons, professional apologies must be worded very carefully.
If the situation could become litigious, check with your company’s legal department before sending anything off.
That said, this kind of non-apology that makes use of the wording, “express sincere regret,” which is often just the ticket to repairing relations without having to use the word “sorry.”
20. I accept full responsibility for the losses. Please allow me the opportunity to prove that I can turn this around.
If a team you responsible for isn’t performing well, or even has to report losses, you might feel the urge to apologize to higher management.
Instead of saying “sorry” or “I apologize,” use the more assertive “I accept responsibility.” Then ask to be given the opportunity to prove that you can turn the situation around.
21. Oh gosh, I’m sorry about that!
Of course, not everything you apologize for at work is a big deal. Maybe you ran into someone in the hallway or forgot to pass on a relatively unimportant message.
If you do something wrong in the workplace, your apology should be proportionate to your crime.
So, while the formal language used in most of the apologies above is appropriate in the context of the examples given, it would be a little weird if you started saying something like, “I owe you an apology” when all you did knock over your coworker’s coffee.
In that case, a short, quick apology like this one is the right way to go. This is tantamount to saying, “sorry for the inconvenience.”
How to say sorry in a text message
Apologizing in person is all well and good. It gives you an opportunity to look someone in the eye and make sure your words are resonating with them.
Even an apology email at least gives you the space to express everything you need to and to outline your thoughts in a coherent and orderly fashion.
However, we don’t always have the luxury of choosing our method of apology. Sometimes, a phone number is all we have.
If you have to text someone to say you’re sorry, you have two options. Either use the text to suggest getting together in person to talk the problem through, or simply use the body of the text itself to make your apology.
Here are a few ways to approach saying sorry in a text message.
22. Hey, just wanted to reach out because I feel like things are weird between us. I’d love to apologize to you for what went down in person. Do you have time to meet up sometime this week?
This approach to texting someone an apology raises the problem––namely that things seem weird between you and the person you’re speaking to––mentions your desire to apologize, and then suggests a way forward, which in this case is to meet up.
23. Hey, are you upset with me? If I’ve done something wrong, I’m sorry.
If you aren’t sure whether everything is okay between you and a friend, instead of sending an apology text right away, you could check in and ask them if they are upset with you.
If you want to, you can add that you’re sorry if you have done something wrong. This will show them that you aren’t coming from a confrontational place—you just want to make sure everything is good in your relationship.
24. Hi, I wanted to talk things through and to express my regrets about how things ended. Let me know if you ever want to have a phone call or meet for a coffee?
This is a great way to send an ex or an ex-best-friend a “sorry” text without having to spell your feelings out too much.
Saying that you want to “express [your] regrets” makes it clear that you feel bad about how everything went down, without becoming overdramatic.
Also, because you might have no idea how they are going to respond to your message, you might not want to say too much until you receive at least one response back.
25. Yo! Did I say anything to offend you last night? If I did, I’d feel terrible.
If you went out with a group of people last night and now can’t remember exactly what you said to a friend of yours but have a vague idea that they weren’t too happy with you by the end of the evening, you could shoot them this quick text.
Instead of saying “sorry” when you aren’t sure what you would be apologizing for, this text has you covered on all bases.
Your friend will either come back with a “No, we’re all good, what are you talking about?” type of message or will give you a call to talk through what happened. Either way, you’ve done your due diligence.
26. Hey, you know I never meant to hurt you. I’ve always had your best interests at heart, even if I haven’t always known how to show it.
If you ended up hurting someone at the end of a relationship, this way of saying “sorry” via text at least gives you the opportunity to express your care for that person.
Instead of saying “sorry,” it provides a more well-rounded explanation of what went down on your end of things.
27. Hey, you mean so much to me and I am genuinely so ashamed of how I treated you. If you ever gave me another chance I would do it all differently.
If you know you didn’t treat someone right in a relationship and are ashamed of your behavior, this kind of “sorry” text message can help you get any unspoken feelings out there.
Telling someone you are ashamed conveys that you are sorry.
Telling them that if you had another chance you would do things differently lets them know that if there is even a small part of them that is open to trying things again, you would be with them in a heartbeat.
Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.