Disculparse and "he/she/Ud. apologized". How do you say it?

Question

I found this link that answered part of my question: disculparse vs disculpar

The reflexive is understandable to me in the context of excusing oneself.

However, when the translation is "apologizing" I would like to know if this is correct for "He apologized to his mother":

Se disculpó a su mama.

Él disculpó a su mamá.

And does this mean, "He apologized"?:

Se disculpó.

This easy or hard? - 0080b918, Jun 2, 2013

He apologized to his mother means? he was guilty and asked her mother to forgive him? or her mother was guilty and he forgived her? - Anormal, Jun 2, 2013

The first one Anormal. Thanks for posting this Katy, I hope we get a good answer! - bandit51jd, Jun 3, 2013

Answer 1

Disculparse con or pedir disculpas a means to apologize in Spanish.

[Él] se disculpó con su mamá or

[Él] le pidió disculpas a su mamá.

By the way, disculparse is not a reflexive verb. It is transitive.

Conversely, disculpar means to forgive.

Su madré lo disculpó.

Of course, transitive. I took a brain break. - katydew, Jun 3, 2013

Thanks Franco for the clarity. - katydew, Jun 3, 2013

Thanks Franco and Katy, but my brain is still telling me that "él disculpó a su mamá " seems to mean " he forgave his mum" whilst " se disculpó a su mamá " would imply " he forgave himself ( apologized ) to his mum" - britisk, Jun 3, 2013

In my dictionary "disculpar" is defined like this: Quote ( disculpar - transitive ( also refl. disculparse ) end quote - britisk, Jun 3, 2013

Answer 2

Él se disculpó con su madre. - He apologized to his mother.
Él disculpó a su madre - He excused his mother / He forgave her.

Personally i do not recomend using the second sentence.

Anormal, en el segundo, cuál es la mejor manera para decirlo, si su madre hizo algo malo a él. - katydew, Jun 3, 2013

The second sentence is right in the context you are asking. But without a given context is confuse. - Anormal, Jun 3, 2013

It may sound extremely condescending. But it's grammatically correct. - francobollo, Jun 3, 2013

Answer 3

Anormal,

Aquí está más información. Ahora, puede ayudarme?

He apologized to his mother means? he was guilty and asked her mother to forgive him?

Yes

or her mother was guilty and he forgived forgave her?

No

Dear Katy, this is confusing enough. Do you mean " his " mother all the way ? - britisk, Jun 3, 2013

Anormal was just trying to understand what I thought my sentence meant. I can see the confusion. - katydew, Jun 4, 2013