Thread: Sorry for lateness

извиняюсь за опоздание

Но это не я который опаздывает - это мое домашнее задание

Извинения за опоздание?

Basically I'm looking for the best equivalent of "Sorry it is late" or "Apologies for lateness".

Спасибо

Извините за опоздание is how you want to say it if you're late. Appologies for lateness Can't say I've ever heard that one before. Anyway if it's appologies for your being late, then it's all the same. "Sorry it is late" is another phrase I'm not so sure about, the way it sounds to me is like you're being sorry for that it's late, like late in time of day? More context needed, at least for a dummy like me.

P.S. Although извиняюсь is ubiquitous in colloquial speech now, it is kind of wrong to say it like that. The -сь at the end is indicative of a reflexive verb, one that refers back to the subject, short for себя if you will. It's like saying я извиняю себя (I appologize myself) It's nitpicky, I know and most people wouldn't care or know about that, but some will chastise you for it. Needless to say, it's not recommended to use извиняюсь formally (some people do regardless).

Thanks iCake

The context is it is in an email to my teacher. The homework is late. I want to apologize for the fact that the homework is late and I have inconvenienced her.

Спасибо

I was under the impression that
извинить - из-вин-ить - to forgive, pardon
извиниться - из-вин-иться - to apologize (by extension of the idea "to excuse oneself")

As you say, that is in fact how they are used. But I didn't realize that the etymology of the -ся in reflexives, like this one, was so "close to the surface" in natives' minds.

"I'm sorry that it (homework) is late"
which is sort of different from:
"Sorry, it's late."
But now that I think about it.... I can't tell the difference. Also I don't know how to punctuate either of these sentences because (had to look this up because I couldn't tell) "sorry" is a interjection, which ruins everything.

Anyway, this is a good question because English relies a whole lot on gerunds, so it can be hard to form sentences without them.

Ah, I see. I'd say "Извините за задержку (с домашним заданием)". "...за опоздание" can work in theory here, but that word is kind of most readily associated with arriving late somehwere, so I strongly suggest that you refrain from using this word here.

P.S. I should have probably made this one out but to convey this idea quite clearly you need to "tweak" it like this:

Но это не я, кто опоздал. Это про моё домашнее задание.

xXHoax, you can read a little about "извиняюсь" here.

http://www.spb.aif.ru/culture/event/1460264

This -ся thing is all but relative as there are a lot of reflexive verbs that have lost this "refer back to the subject" vibe and adopted another meaning, so you don't need to worry about this much. After all this form of the word is on the verge of "making it", if you catch my drift.

Interesting article! I think I'm probably on the side of avoiding using извиняться now; the article points out the exact logical gap that was mildly worrying to me:
"... заявить: «Я, конечно, виноват, однако не нуждаюсь в вашем прощении»."

Though at the same time, the maxim "-ся indicates no more than simply: this verb will not have a direct object (will require preposition, or is intransitive)" seems like an okay rule, moving forward. Unless there are bountiful exceptions that are escaping me.

Makes me wonder, is раска́иваться, for instance "Я раскаиваюсь!", a possible alternative?

Originally Posted by iCake

xXHoax, you can read a little about "извиняюсь" here.
Как правильно говорить: извините или извиняюсь? | События | КУЛЬТУ

The guy who says ‘Фактически смысл этого выражения: «Я сам извиняю себя за причинённое вам зло»’ is not quite right.
Извиняться is not «извинять себя», like кусаться is not «кусать себя». Actually, it means the same as «просить прощения», ‘apologize’.
The verb извиняться is used frequently, and it is totally normal. Nobody protests against phrases like он извинился (= он попросил прощения), извинись (= попроси прощения) etc. Only извиняюсь is out of favor for some reason.

I suppose that there is no true reason to consider извиняюсь wrong. Most likely, ‘извиняюсь is wrong’ is a widely spread myth created by some people like the author of the quotation above, who use some bad argumentation to prove it.

In any case, you have to deal with the ‘извиняюсь is wrong’ idea since it’s really popular.