Making mistakes is a part of life. There’s no way around it, and that’s why knowing how to apologize is a must. Whether we inadvertently make a mistake or say something we didn’t mean, saying “I’m sorry” is always necessary. It doesn’t mean it’s an easy thing to do, but it’s something we have to deal with.

Now that you’re learning a new language, it’s also a good idea to expand your vocabulary and include ways to say sorry in Portuguese. After all, mistakes in pronunciation, word choice, or comprehension is a part of the process. That’s totally okay! By using the right words to apologize, you can make the process smoother.

As you gain more experience with the Portuguese language, there will be more situations in which you might need to apologize and take responsibility. It might be at work, with a friend, or even to offer condolences. Whatever the circumstances, after reading this guide, you’ll know the best ways to apologize in Portuguese!

Table of Contents

1. The Most Important Words for Apologizing
2. Taking the Blame
3. Work and Business Situations
4. Offering Your Condolences
5. How to Forgive
6. Continue Learning Portuguese with PortuguesePod101

Mil desculpas! (“I’m sorry a thousand times!”)

1. The Most Important Words for Apologizing

How do you say sorry in Portuguese? If you want the most straightforward way, you can go with desculpa. However, there are plenty of other useful words and phrases you can use. 

Desculpa (“Sorry”)

This word can be used in a few different ways, as shown in the examples below. 

• Desculpa! (“Sorry!”)

You can simply say desculpa after saying something you regret, bumping into someone, or breaking a glass at your friend’s house.

• Me desculpa. (“Sorry.” / “Forgive me.”)
• Você me desculpa? (“Do you forgive me?”)
• Desculpe a demora. (“I’m sorry for the delay.”)

Desculpe sounds more formal in Brazil. It can also appear in the form me desculpe (“forgive me,” “I’m sorry”). 

• Peço desculpas. (“I apologize.”)

Another alternative for more formal settings.

• Desculpa aí, esqueci completamente de te ligar. (“Sorry, I totally forgot to call you.”)

Using the word aí (“there”) makes the apology sound very informal. You can use the phrase above when talking to your friends, for example.

• Desculpa, você sabe que horas são? (“Excuse me, do you know what time it is?”)

/! Note that, if you opt to use the more formal version of desculpe, you’ll have to pay attention to the number of people you’re apologizing to.  Talking to one person: Me desculpe, esqueci do nosso almoço. (“I’m sorry, I forgot about our lunch.”) Talking to two or more people:  Me desculpem, esqueci do nosso almoço. (“I’m sorry, I forgot about our lunch.”) Listen to and read along with a real-life example of how to apologize to multiple people in this lesson by PortuguesePod101.

And because Brazilians love some exaggeration, you can make your apologies really clear by adding “a thousand” to it.

• Mil desculpas! (“I am sorry a thousand times!”) 

Drag the i in mil (miiiil desculpas), and you have a heartfelt apology! This is an informal way to say “I’m sorry.”

Did you just say you’re sorry?

Other Useful Words

For more variety, you can add these additional Portuguese words for sorry to your vocabulary.

Perdão (“Pardon”)

Perdão is definitely used less often than desculpa, but you might still hear it in Brazil.

• Ai, perdão! (“Oh, sorry!”) 

If you’ve just dropped something on someone’s foot, for example, you might say this.

• Me perdoa, por favor! (“Forgive me, please!”)

Now, if you hurt someone’s feelings or have offended them in some way, me perdoa is a good choice.

Com licença (“Excuse me”)

Do you need to ask someone for directions? Or maybe pass on a narrow corridor? Then use com licença (“excuse me”). 

• Com licença, você pode me ajudar? (“Excuse me, can you help me?”)
• Com licença, posso passar rapidinho? (“Excuse me, could I just squeeze past?”)
• Com licença. (“Excuse me.”)

You don’t need to add anything else if you’re just asking to pass or if you need some space in a crowded place. 

Foi mal (“My bad”)

This is by far the most informal way to say “I’m sorry.” Use it with your close friends to sound like a native Portuguese speaker! 

• Foi mal, não trouxe sua camiseta. (“Sorry, I didn’t bring your T-shirt.”)

This way of apologizing works best for small mishaps. Foi mal isn’t a good option when you’ve just crashed your best friend’s brand-new car, for example!

Emphasize it

Here are some ways to show that you’re very sorry in Portuguese:

• Me desculpa mesmo. (“I’m really sorry.”) 
• Sério, foi mal. (“For real, I’m sorry.”)
• Mil desculpas, de verdade. (“I’m sorry a thousand times, really.”)

Foi minha culpa, me desculpa, amor! (“It was my fault, forgive me, love!”)

➜ Check out this vocabulary list to see more common ways to say sorry and practice your pronunciation with PortuguesePod101!

2. Taking the Blame

Sometimes we have to own up to our mistakes. That means taking the responsibility—or even the blame—for things that go wrong. 

Take the Responsibility

Acknowledging that you’re guilty of hurting someone or are responsible for a mistake will help you grow!

• Minha culpa (“My fault”)
  • Foi minha culpa, não tranquei a porta. (“It was my fault, I didn’t lock the door.”)
  • É minha culpa, não dela. (“It’s my fault, not hers.”)

• Assumir a responsabilidade (“Take the responsibility”)
  • Eu assumo toda a responsabilidade por este erro. (“I take all the responsibility for this mistake.”)

• Eu não devia ter dito isso. (“I shouldn’t have said that.”)

Sometimes you also need to explain what happened. In this case, you can say:

• Foi minha culpa, eu não sabia que… (“It was my fault, I didn’t know that…”)
• Foi minha culpa, eu pensei que… (“It was my fault, I thought that…”)

State Your Case

What about when it’s not really your fault or you didn’t mean it?

• Não foi minha culpa. (“It wasn’t my fault.”)
• Foi sem querer! (“I didn’t mean it!”)
• Não foi por mal. (“I meant no harm.”)

Own Up to Your Mistake, Brazilian Style

Here are a few more phrases you can use to apologize in Brazilian Portuguese like a native. These are informal and colloquial ways of admitting that you made a mistake.

• Eu estraguei tudo. (“I messed it all up.”)
• Pisei na bola. (“I made a mistake.”)
• Errei feio. (“I made a big mistake.”)

Me desculpa, de verdade. (“I’m sorry, really.”)

➜ Check out this lesson about apologizing to your significant other on PortuguesePod101.com.

3. Work and Business Situations

In business settings or at work, you can use most of the words we’ve already seen to say sorry in Portuguese. The best options are me desculpe (“I’m sorry”), peço desculpas (“I apologize”), and eu assumo a responsabilidade (“I take the responsibility”).

Not Happening Again

Besides apologizing, you should also learn how to say that you won’t make the same mistake again in the future.

• Isto não vai se repetir. (“This is not going to happen again.”)
• Não vai acontecer novamente. (“It won’t happen again.”)
• Prometo que nunca mais faço isso. (“I promise I won’t do it again.”)

Spell it Out

At work, you might also need to email an apology to your colleagues. If that happens, you can use these sentences:

• Peço desculpas a todos. (“I apologize to you all.”)
• Eu gostaria de me desculpar com a equipe. (“I would like to apologize to the team.”)

Apologies in Customer Service

There’s another word that means “sorry” in Portuguese, but it’s used mainly in customer service: lamento (“I’m sorry”). You might hear it when dealing with a bank, trying to reach customer support on the phone, or when shopping in Brazil. 

• Lamentamos informar que… (“We regret to inform you that…”)
• Lamento senhor, não estamos abertos aos domingos. (“I’m sorry sir, we are not open on Sundays.”)

Lastly, you might also hear businesses apologizing to customers in the following ways:

• Por favor, aceite nossas desculpas. (“Please, accept our apologies.”)
• Pedimos desculpas por qualquer inconveniência causada. (“We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”)

Lamento, não temos mais ingressos para este filme. (“I’m sorry, we don’t have tickets available for this movie anymore.”)

➜ Do you want to hear more tips on apologizing in Portuguese? This video by PortuguesePod101 is a perfect tool to learn more on the topic and practice your listening!

4. Offering Your Condolences

” ‘Sinto muito’ e ‘me desculpe’ são intercambiáveis, exceto em um funeral.” (” ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I apologize’ usually mean the same thing, except at a funeral.”) – Demetri Martin 

The quote above is a light-hearted way to remember one thing: Sometimes, it’s better to stick to the norm! That’s very true for whenever you find yourself in a sad situation in which you need to express your condolences to an acquaintance or close friend.

Here are some of the formal sentences you can use:

• Meus pêsames pela sua perda. (“My condolences for your loss.”)
• Minhas sinceras condolências. (“My sincere condolences.”)
• Lamento sua perda. (“I’m sorry for your loss.”)

With close friends, you can say:

• Sinto muito pela sua perda. (“I’m really sorry for your loss.”)
• Fiquei muito triste de saber sobre… (“I was very sorry to hear about…”)

And, of course, don’t forget to offer support in this difficult moment. 

• Conta comigo para o que precisar. (“Count on me for whatever you need.”)
• Se precisar de qualquer coisa, estou aqui. (“If you need anything, I’m here.”)
• Se eu puder te ajudar de qualquer jeito, me avisa. (“If I can help you in any way, let me know.”)

5. How to Forgive

Now that you know all of the ways to apologize and say sorry in Portuguese, here are some ways to answer apology requests. After all, forgiving is good for your health and for your social well-being!

The options at the bottom of this list are the most informal ones, while the ones at the top can be used in pretty much any situation.

• Estas coisas acontecem. (“These things happen.”)
• Não se preocupe. (“Don’t worry.”)
• Não foi nada. (“It was nothing.”)
• Está desculpado. (“You’re forgiven.”)
• Tudo bem. (“It’s alright.”) 
• Sem problemas. (“No problems.”)
• Esquece. (“Forget it.”)

Intonation matters in that last one, so be sure to sound friendly to convey that there’s nothing to worry about.

• Ah, que isso. (“Oh, of course.”)

In this case, the meaning conveyed is “don’t worry about it” or “it was my pleasure,” when said with a playful and friendly intonation.

Forgiveness is an important part of happy relationships.

6. Continue Learning Portuguese with PortuguesePod101

We hope that after reading this article, you feel ready to apologize with ease and smooth things over at any time! Learning how to say sorry in Portuguese will be a handy skill as you navigate the journey of learning a new language. This is also a helpful guide you can come back to whenever you find yourself in a situation where apologies—or forgiveness—are needed. 

We would love to hear your thoughts on this article! Did we miss any important words for apologizing in Portuguese? Let us know in the comments. 

And now, it’s time to put it into practice. To start, you can check out these tips to remember words better. Or go ahead and choose a vocabulary list to study or discover another free resource on PortuguesePod101.com.

If you want to take your learning experience further, members of PortuguesePod101.com get access to the largest language lesson library in the world, with thousands of real lessons by real teachers. Perfect for anyone who wants to learn from anywhere, feel motivated, and be ready to speak Portuguese with confidence.

Happy Portuguese learning!