非常抱歉

fēi cháng bào qiàn

I am extremely sorry / terribly apologetic

非常抱歉，我迟到了。

I am extremely sorry that I am late.

Etymology

This is a standard polite apologetic phrase in Mandarin Chinese. 非常 means 'extremely' or 'very', and 抱歉 means 'sorry' or 'apologetic', combined to form a formal, earnest apology.

Memory Aid

Think of 非常 (fēi cháng) as 'fee-chang' sounding like 'fee-chang' = 'very much', and 抱歉 (bào qiàn) as 'bow chee-en' to visualize bowing while saying a sincere apology.

Collocations

非常抱歉打扰非常抱歉让你非常抱歉未能

Synonyms

十分抱歉实在抱歉深表歉意

Antonyms

没关系不客气没问题

Related Words

抱歉对不起歉意