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- "Mi pardonpetas."
61 Comments
542
Hmmm just to say, it might not be a "safe expression" to say if surrounded by French speakers unaware of you speaking esperanto.
Pardonpetas sounds like "Pardon, pétasse" ("Sorry, bitch").
This is quite easy to remember. I assume it is a compound of:
-
pardono = pardon, forgiveness
-
peti = to ask for, to request (compare Spanish pedir)
So the sentence means "I pardon-request" = "I ask for pardon" = "I am sorry"
"I beg you pardon / excuse me" might be more accurate translations for "mi pardonpetas" than "I'm sorry" might be. Most people don't realize it but "I'm sorry" and "excuse me" are not one and the same. "I'm sorry" is used to express regret - when you wish you had done things differently, etc. "Pardon me" is a plea for forgiveness - when you wish someone would no longer grudge you for what you did, etc. "I'm sorry" is actually more sincere as it implies that you feel bad about what happened. "I beg your pardon" is really only meant for civilized argument mitigation (even if you don't feel bad about what happened and you are likely to do it again). That's why we (ought to) say "I'm sorry" when we know that we've really messed up but say "Pardon me" when we're just trying to get someone's attention.
This is not a complete sentence and is not used this way.
There are lots of ways to apologize in Esperanto.
- Pardonu (min)
- Pardonon
- Mi pardonpetas.
- Mi bedaŭras
I'm not going to include English translations because I'm not overly interested in the difference between "sorry" and "I'm sorry" and "I apologize" and "excuse me" ... since we're trying to learn Esperanto here.
The biggest difference here is grammatical. Pardonu min is an imperitive. Pardonon is a noun (a lot like saluton), Mi pardonpetas is a complete sentence - a request for forgiveness. Mi bedaŭras is a complete sentence - an expression of regret or sadness.
So, the main thing is that "pardonon" can stand alone but "pardonpetas" is not a complete sentence... it's more like "am apologizing."
You never use "pardonpetas" on its own.
There are lots of ways to apologize in Esperanto.
- Pardonu (min)
- Pardonon
- Mi pardonpetas.
- Mi bedaŭras
I'm not going to include English translations because I'm not overly interested in the difference between "sorry" and "I'm sorry" and "I apologize" and "excuse me" ... since we're trying to learn Esperanto here.
The biggest difference here is grammatical. Pardonu min is an imperitive. Pardonon is a noun (a lot like saluton), Mi pardonpetas is a complete sentence - a request for forgiveness. Mi bedaŭras is a complete sentence - an expression of regret or sadness.
So, the main thing is that "pardonon" can stand alone but "pardonpetas" is not a complete sentence... it's more like "am apologizing."
2127
Thank you, I was just now scanning the comments to see if someone had tried "I beg your pardon," and to see if it had been accepted as correct.
Caveat: not an advanced speaker.
That said, I'd translate mi pardono as "I sorry" or I a sorry which doesn't make sense. You have a pronoun and a noun without anything linking them.
I'm not sure about mi estas pardono, it sounds weird to me, it sounds more like "I am a sorry" than "I am sorry"... but you'd want to double check with someone who is more experienced than me.
Mi pardonpetas or pardonu min both work, I believe.