What's the best way to express "oh dear"?

Question

What would be a good way to say "oh dear" or "oh goodness" regarding a misfortune? I want to show my dismay at someone else's misfortune and show right away that I am not upset with them for our mutual misfortune. I don't trust the translator to give me a good idea, it is more a cultural thing.

(My teacher waited for an hour for my call yesterday, while I called the number she gave me 3 times and got her answering machine each time. I checked and we both said "11 Oaxaca time, 1 Omaha time and I called at 1, 1:05, 1:15. So now we are trying to figure out what went wrong and I am going to see if we can try again. I feel terrible that she waited by the phone for an hour, but very confused too - I read all our correspondance and even with the possible language barrier, i just can't see what could have gone wrong. sigh)

Answer 1

Kittybrougham:

May I encourage you to check your clock settings. When I looked at Omaha and Mexico City, I found them to be in the same time zones. There is a risk I misunderstood. But, if they are the same, maybe 11:00 PM in Oaxaca is also 11:00 PM in Omaha.

Check it out.

Moe.

That's it Moe. Yuck, I feel like an idiot. - kittybrougham, OCT 22, 2009

Awww...that's terrible. I'm sorry you missed your appointment. - --Mariana--, OCT 22, 2009

Answer 2

I think in this case I'd say ¡Qué lástima!

thank you - kittybrougham, OCT 22, 2009

"Qué lástima" turns up quite a lot in Julieta Venegas' song 'Me Voy'. (Just thought I'd mention it...) - Jespa, OCT 22, 2009

Thanks, Jespa, I'll check it out. :-) - --Mariana--, OCT 22, 2009

I love Julieta Venegas! - cheeseisyummy, OCT 22, 2009

Answer 3

jejejej, Moe is the greatest ever!!!

Well, I think Marianne's suggestion is a good one:

¡Pero qué pena!

¡pero qué lástima!

Answer 4

Oh my goodness! That is it.