59 Comments
100
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, ❤❤❤❤❤").
It happened to me a few years ago in a youth hostel in France! Thanks for making me remember :)
Oui! C'est trop drôle! Apologizing to a french female is by itself another reason to say sorry for! It's the esperantist apology paradox XD
- 1303
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."
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"
Here is a Lernu! activity which teaches how to combine words like this.
Can you do that with other words? Like if you want to ask for food, can you say "Mi nutraĵpetas"?
I'm assuming that's not the normal way to say it, but is it a valid construction?
- 185
I guess that would be translated into "I'm asking for food" or something like that?
Peti probably comes from the Slavic languages.
Polish: pytać Czech: ptát Slovakian: pýtať etc...
From Polish pytać (to ask), Latin petō.
"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.
I was gonna remember it as "your pardon-pets are your apologies", but thanks for the real etymology here.
So, if I wanted to just say "Sorry" and not "I'm sorry" would I say...?
-
Pardonon.
-
Pardonpetas.
-
Mi pardonpetas.
Would any of those be acceptable? Or is there an even shorter phrase?
As @rahgots said above. "Pardonu!" would work as "Sorry!", or "Pardon!" Pardonpetas is "Asking for pardon" which sounds like it's a bit more formal.
I can't tell what sounds i'm supposed to make to say "pardonpetas". Help?
Well, the a's aren't exactly right for IPA I don't think, but it's funny because everything else, those are the same symbols as an American dialect haha.
In IPA, the stress symbol ˈ always comes before the entire syllable, not the nucleus.
- 1686
It sounded like he was pronouncing it with a ð. I’m guessing he’s Iberian...?
- 1303
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."
- 1218
Where did the expression ''Mi bedaŭras'' come from? It wasn't taught in any of the previous lessons, and my answer was marked wrong 'cuz I didn't choose both: ''Mi pardonpetas'' and ''Mi bedaŭras.'' It's not fair!
- 1570
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.
I don't think they have a direct translation of that phrase. "Mi pardonpetas" is probably the absolute closest translation you'll ever get.
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.
So wait. Pardonpetas is a verb in the 1st person singular, so it is domething the subject, I, is doing. What is he doing, asking for apologize or apologizing hiself?
I didn't have the word 'I' available to me for translation, so I could only choose one word, 'Sorry'.
Hello, why is "apologize" wrong? Is it because of it’s a "beta" or does it means something else than "sorry"? (i’m not english native so i’m not sure that this is because of beta)
Apologizing is a more general term than saying sorry. Or in other words, Sorry is a specific way of apologizing.
"Pardono"/"Pardonon" is the noun "pardon".
"Pardonpetas" is the verb "beg for pardon".
I believe the speaker is flapping his /d/. I cannot hear a clear /d/ sound in this recording. (2018-03-15)
Sometimes i understand most of words cause its like latin language and i speak portuguese!
