Saying Sorry in Japanese (Part 2)

ごめんなさい is used in non-formal situations (so probably don’t use this to your teacher or someone older than you in everyday language).

This is a more personal sorry…the kind where you actually want to apologise to someone for something you’ve done (like forgetting to give your friend’s DVD back, or accidentally hurting someone).

あっ、ごめんなさい。大丈夫　ですか？・ah, gomen nasai. Daijyoubu desu ka?

Ah, I’m sorry. Are you okay?

(大丈夫・だいじょうぶ・daijyoubu = all right/okay)

If you want to emphasise that you’re really sorry, you add 本当に (ほんとうに・hontouni):

本当に　ごめんなさい。

Between good friends (and if you haven’t really done anything wrong), you often just say ごめんね・gomen ne.