In combination with the modal verb lassen (see 35.6b), sich entschuldigen is also
used to pass on apologies for absence:Meine Frau lässt sich entschuldigen. Sie muss heute arbeiten.
My wife sends her apologies. She has to work today.Entschuldigen is further used to excuse someone from an activity, e.g. in school:Ich möchte meinen Sohn Hans für morgen entschuldigen.
I would like to have my son Hans excused for tomorrow.A more formal way of offering an excuse for someone’s absence is:Ich möchte meine Tochter wegen ihres Fehlens entschuldigen.
I would like to excuse my daughter for being absent.(e) Another verb used to seek forgiveness is verzeihen ‘to pardon/forgive’:Verzeihen Sie, daß ich so spät an*rufe.
I’m sorry for ringing so late.Verzeih die Störung. (informal)
I’m sorry for disturbing you.See 58.2b (p. 147) for the informal dropping of the -e in imperatives.
Note that verzeihen takes a dative object of the person (see 19.1):Sie hat ihm endlich verziehen.
She finally forgave him.Es sei dir noch einmal verziehen!
You’re forgiven!/We’ll forgive you one more time! (ironical)See 39.4 (p. 97) for the use of Subjunctive I.
Wir können es uns nicht verzeihen, dass wir ihm nicht geholfen
haben.
We cannot forgive ourselves for not helping him.A much more formal and emphatic request for forgiveness is expressed by um
Verzeihung bitten:Er bat sie (vielmals) um Verzeihung.
He apologized to her (profusely).See 38.1 (p. 90) for the use of prepositional verbs.
(f) The verb vergeben is less commonly used. It too takes a dative of the person:Sie hat ihm seine Rücksichtslosigkeit vergeben.
She has forgiven him his thoughtlessness.The verb is also used in the religious sense of forgiveness:Vergib uns unsere Sünden.
Forgive us our sins. See 19.2 (p. 26) for this use of the dative; and 12.3 (p. 17) for the order of noun and pronoun
objects.
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SOCIAL CONTACT