Do you say "lo siento", "yo siento", or just "siento"?

Question

and why?

Answer 1

Sentir, the verb from which siento came from, means "to be sorry about" or "to regret". Being what is called a transitive verb, this verb needs something to act on, that is, it needs "something to be sorry about". That "something" is what the "Lo" is there for; it acts as the object to the verb sentir. Therefore with "Lo siento," you are saying "I am sorry about it" or "I regret that this happened".

In English you usually shorten this to just "I'm sorry" and it already makes sense, but in Spanish it doesn't and you'll always need that "lo".

That said, if you use just "Siento...," you need to follow that up w/ a description of the thing you regret or are sorry about, in order for the sentence to be complete (basically you're replacing "lo" w/ a longer description). For example:

• Siento "la muerte de tu perro". (I'm sorry about the death of your dog.)
• "Lo" siento (I'm sorry (about it)).

Answer 2

"Lo siento" is correct - to simply say "I'm sorry".

It's worth looking up 'sentir' in the dictionary. 'Siento' is the first person present indicative tense conjugation of this verb. (You asked why.)

However, if you want to include it in a longer sentence, for example,

I'm sorry I'm late.

you don't say the 'lo' at the beginning, just, (to the best of my knowledge)

Siento llegar tarde. (Literally - I regret/feel sorry to arrive late)

or

I'm sorry I hurt you. = Siento haberte dañado. (Lit. I regret/feel sorry to have hurt you)

You can also hear the verb 'lamentar' used in the same way.

Hmm. One one those times where omitting the "that" in English helps you to chose the correct Spanish construction. - 0074b507, Aug 21, 2011

Answer 3

The first answer you got to your question (the information in brackets) might be a bit confusing. If I'm not mistaken the tú" form of "sentir" would be "sientes"; with "él, ella, usted" it would be "siente". "Sientas" and "sienta" are forms of the verb "sentar" (= sit, seat).

Ah! Thanks for pointing that out, I fixed it. Can't believe i did that :| - Austin67427, Aug 21, 2011

Although it would be 'sientas' in the subjunctive, but let's not go there yet. :) - galsally, Aug 22, 2011

Answer 4

You just say "lo siento"

While "yo lo siento" is technically correct, nobody ever says the "yo" because it is implied that the subject is "yo" because of "siento" (if it were "sientes" the subject would be "tú" if it were "sentimos" the subject would be nosotros, siente= él/ella/usted etc.)

Thank you very much! :) - minimekayla, Aug 21, 2011

Your welcome - Austin67427, Aug 21, 2011

You're... - Tosh, Aug 21, 2011