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French · phrasebook

How to say sorry in French

Sorry in French is désolé if you are a man and désolée if you are a woman. The word is an adjective that agrees with the person who is sorry. Both are pronounced the same, so the difference only shows in writing.

Aurélien CuvelierAurélien CuvelierSep 19, 2026
désolé
sorry
anyone

The ways to say it

désolé: sorry, anyone

désolée: same meaning, anyone

How to use it

In the first exchange below a woman arrives late and opens with désolée; her friend tells her not to worry. In the second, a baker tells a customer there are none left and says the full sentence: I am sorry, with the verb to be.

Said alone, the word is a quick apology among people who know each other. Inside the full sentence it is more careful, and it is what you hear in shops and offices.

Watch out

It agrees with the speaker, not with the listener. A woman writes désolée whoever she is apologising to.

In a real conversation

Each exchange is a line and its reply. Greyed letters are written and not pronounced. A tie marks a liaison, with the sound you hear under it. A label under a verb names its tense when it is not the present.

Désolée, je suis en retard. Tu m'attends depuis longtemps ? Sorry, I'm late. Have you been waiting for me long?

Non, ne t'inquiète pas, je viens d'arriver. No, don't worry, I have just arrived.

Bonjour, je voudrais deux croissants, s'il vous plaît. Hello, I would like two croissants, please.

Je suis désolé, madame, il n'y en a plus. I am sorry, madam, there are none left.

Questions people ask

What is the difference between désolé and désolée?
Désolé is written by a man, désolée by a woman. They sound identical.
How do you say I am sorry in French?
With the verb to be in front of the word, as the baker does in the second exchange on this page.

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Aurélien Cuvelier

Written by

Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck

Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck, the app that teaches Russian and French words in context. Each course follows the official proficiency word lists and a frequency corpus for its language, and every word comes with real, annotated example sentences.

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