"¡Lo siento mucho!"
Translation:I am really sorry!
86 Comments
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Reflexives confuse me. Is this actually reflexive? Isnt lo just the direct object? I thought reflexive referred to verbs one does to or for oneself, and that it happens that there are a lot more of them in Spanish than in English...like when you want to say "I am going away" you say "me voy" instead of "voy," which just means "I go".
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This is not reflexive, and "lo" is a direct object pronoun, not a reflexive pronoun.
The term reflexive does imply something that is done to or for oneself. Reflexives in Spanish usually mean that, but there are some borderline cases that I would call exceptions. "Me voy", which of course comes from "irse", is one such example. It's not really that the action of going takes on any additional "to oneself" aspect, it's just an idiomatic use that changes the contextual definition of "ir" from "to go (somewhere)" to "to leave" without specifying where the subject is going.
A better example of a usual reflexive would be "cepillarse" in the sentence "Yo me cepillo los dientes."
Literally, it parses as "I brush myself the teeth." Its correct English translation would be "I brush my teeth."
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We're getting into Yoda territory now. Jokes aside, that was an excellent explanation! ¡Muchos gracias!
The reflexives are used with certain verbs as an idiom. Much like Saballama said this translates to "I feel it" while another example of this idiom is "Me gusta" which translates to "It pleases me" which is our equivalent to "I like it".
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It's not short for anything. It's the object pronoun for the masculine "it".
Literally word-for-word, "Lo siento mucho" is "It [I] feel much". Re-arrange that into English grammar and you have "I feel it much". Idiomatically, it means "I'm very sorry."
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When I tried unsuccessfully to make a phone call in South America, the phone company (Moviestar) gave me a recorded message that began, "Lo sentimos....." So "Lo sentimos mucho," might be the best translation for your sentence.
People please get over the urge to translate everything literally word to word, just remember the phrases and know their equivalent translation in English, easy.
because that sentence "I'm sorry a lot" in English would mean that you're "sorry often" as in you are constantly screwing up and offending someone/everyone so you're constantly having to apologize for your actions or behavior.
While the sentence given here on DL "Lo siento mucho!" is meaning that you are very sorry for THIS incident of offense or that you are profusely apologizing. A big big apology! lol.
Two completely different things. So that's why :)
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"lo siento" as a phrase that means "I'm sorry" I can accept... but I'm really confused about the origins of this. Siento is the yo form of "Sentar" meaning to sit or to seat, right? So the literal translation of lo siento is "I sit him" or "i sit it". How does that become, "I am sorry"? Any ideas anyone?
To elaborate on what PaulineAnn said, Lo siento is saying "I feel it", it's an expression of empathy or sympathy, which is the same base idea as in "I'm sorry". I feel it.
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That makes much more sense... goodness knows where I got the idea that it was from Sentar. Thanks both of you...
Siento here is the yo form of "sentir", to feel, not sentar. The "yo" forms of the verbs are the same.
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"siento" is also the first person conjugation of the verb "SENTIR" which means:
"to feel sorry/to regret"
I think you're confusing 'sentar', to sit, with 'sentir' to feel. Meaning, long hand, 'I feel for/about you/it/any 3rd person object represented by 'lo'.
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hi! :) why doesn't "excuse me" work? is it because "excuse me" is more "perdóname" and "i am sorry" is more "lo siento"?
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I think "disculpe" is the usual translation of "excuse me". It's the same in English, in certain circumstances you could use either (for example if you bump into someone in a crowd), but other times they both have distinct separate meanings and one is more appropriate than the other ("lo siento maté tu gato" sounds better than "disculpe, maté tu gato").
http://www.senorjordan.com/2009/05/01-direct-objects This will help you understand hopefully :)
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Ya, well I didn't realize it was an idiomatic expression so I translated it as "I feel it a lot" which I believe is a dead on literal translation. Got counted wrong.
"I'm so sorry" does not work because "mucho" does not translate into "so".
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But it seems that the meanings of these phrases are identical, despite the what the direct translation is.
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As you said on another thread, the testing is the teaching. Ultimately it doesn't matter whether or not DL accepts a particular answer, if in your own mind the translation makes sense then you know that this is an expression you can use when you want to say "I'm so sorry" or "I'm really sorry". If you lose a heart and end up having to take the lesson again, it just means you get another chance to practise this particular lesson. The only danger is if you try to wrongly translate individual words and start to think that "mucho" means "so". (BTW Shraeye, I'm not stalking you, it's just you've recently posted on two threads I'm following and what you've said struck a cord on each occasion :-)
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exactly! there are many possible translations of these sentences from duolingo. In most cases duolingo cannot have all possible translations in their database.
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Yes, I will put in my two cents worth, too. IMOH, too much time is spent worrying about whether one loses a heart or not. Who cares!? The more hearts one loses, the more one learns. And who cares if one says "I'm very sorry" or "I am really sorry" or "I am so sorry"? I recommend that learners just keep going through the Duo lessons and do not dwell on any one sentence. CHAU.
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True, i have many hearts and sure many more will be lost along the way. However i am thankful as it helps with retention. As i have gotten this far i am seeing that DL seems to focus on word recognition and sentence structure. That is of course since the birds are reading too.
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It is true, I work in computer programming, I'm sure they only put in the main ones to start with, and when people report things, if they get a lot for the same thing they will add it.
I used it and I think it is the meaning you see in most textbooks for teaching spanish.
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the lo / la / los etc isn't really relevant to this question - the important thing is "lo siento" is just a phrase which means "I'm sorry". It's a really common and useful expression to know, just learn it as "a thing", and don't worry about what the individual parts mean...
I put "I am very sorry" it was correct. In my mind "mucho" depending on the context could also be used in empathy
why "mucho" and not MUY? I thought MUY means "very." And if MUY could be used, would it be placed before the word "Siento"? Thanks
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"Siento" is a verb. "Lo siento" might indicate the same thing as "I'm sorry," but the literal translation of "lo siento" is "(I) feel it." So it's more appropriate to say you feel it much than it is to say you very feel it.
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I am very sorry was accepted here. I am really sorry was also another translation given. I get lo siento but mucho being a lot or many almost got me. So I gather that mucho is just another word that can change from literal to an extended idea of the expression.
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Of course many words have multiple meanings, both literal and metaphorical. That's how language works. ;) If you're "feeling blue" you're not actually touching a color. If someone's "running for office" they're not literally zooming from lobby to cubicle. If you have "a lot" of curiosity (or puppies), you don't have an empty plot of land that you've filled with curiosity (or puppies).
But really, it's not much of a stretch at all for "mucho" to indicate various types of "more than."
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"I feel for you" or "I am sorry a lot" but not "I really sorry" as correct answer.
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I wouldn't say "I am sorry a lot" unless I meant that I was frequently sorry. "I am very sorry" or "I am really sorry" sound fine to my native ears, although I don't know what Duo is programmed to accept.
I put "Very Sorry" is that wrong? In english you can say (I am) Very sorry and it sounds good, but i suppose it's not accurate translation so duolingo didn't accept it
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You can submit your suggested translation and if they agree, they'll add it to the list of accepted answers.
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I get lazy with the apostrophes and capital letters and it usually corrects my work. Now I get 'done' for 'im' rather than 'I'm'!! grrrr!!
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Is the losing hearts thing just used in the app for phones or tablets or something, because I don''t have hearts to lose when on a desktop or laptop pc. If we used the browser on the phone to access the internet site, instead of using the app could we avoid the hearts altogether?
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if you update the app it should be same as the desktop. at least it has been for mine..I have not seen hearts for the last month.
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"yo" is "I", sometimes "me". "lo" is actually the third person direct object. Literally, the expression is "It I feel much", but idiomatically it's used to mean "I'm very sorry".
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No. "Lo" is an object pronoun, not a subject pronoun, so the verb would change but not the "lo". "We are sorry" would be "lo sentimos."
http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation/sentir
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lo does not replace yo.
yo is a subject pronoun and means I.
lo is a direct object pronoun and means it.
siento is the first person singular conjugation of "to feel". siento can only mean I feel. So lo siento is literally it I feel, which is different from English because in English we say I feel it.
Profuse apologies is not accepted. What would 'profuse apologies' be in Spanish? Thank you - muchas gracias :)
IT I FEEL A LOT OF. Meaning you feel really sorry. You feel the guilt, pain, etc...
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Yes, that is what it means.
"Lo siento" literally means "I feel it".
http://www.123teachme.com/spanish_verb_conjugation/sentir
lo is the object pronoun it.
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Because that's not how it's used. Translating between languages is much more than just substituting words. Yes, literally, "Lo siento mucho" is "I feel it very much", but it's used to mean "I am very sorry". If someone says in English "I really feel it", you don't get the sense that they just apologized to you.
When I give more idiomatic translations, I am often told I'm wrong (an no one has said "lo siento" on those occasions. So I went for the literal, which there exist occasions to say.
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I recognize this is an idiom, but am still confused why "I feel it very much " isn't accepted. "I'm sorry" conveys empathy (as does something like "I feel your pain", if sincere. ) "I apologize " conveys more a sense of regret and perhaps responsibility. What would be the correct response (in Spanish) to the doctor's question as s/he pokes a needle in your foot, "do you feel this"?
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What's wrong with "I really am sorry " not accepted when it is common usage in UK
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Report it, then, and suggest it. The dev team can't think of all possibilities, and I think they're centered in the US.
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I put 'I really am sorry' and it wasn't accepted. It's the same as 'I am really sorry' except perhaps with more emphasis.
