To be sad - Help with an expression

Question

Hello everyone, currently I'm in Chile and i was trying to tell a friend that we were sad to leave. The expression I used was "Me da triste" but my friend from Ecuador corrected me with "Me da pena". Is that correct? I thought that phrase was for expressing feeling sorry for someone/something. Thanls!

Answer 1

"Me da tristeza" o "Me entritece" would be correct, but I would say "Me da pena que...."

""Darle pena a uno" can mean many things.

"Me da pena tener que salir."-"I'm sorry that I have to leave." "Me da pena haberte ofendido."-"I'm sorry that I have offended you." "Me da pena."-"I'm embarrassed." "Eso debe darle pena."-"That should shame him (teach him to do better)".

And so on and so forth.

Answer 2

Hi everyone!

The examples given by Feliz77 would probably be understood, but a native speaker would never say that in such a way.

In the context, instead of "salir de" I would rather say "irme".

If you say "irme de" o "salir de", using the preposition "de", the emphasis would not be on the fact of leaving because your time there has just come to an end, but leaving because you are not longer allowed to stay.

I think the following examples would sound better:

1. Es triste que tengamos que irnos (It's sad that we have to leave)

2. Estamos tristes por [tener que] irnos (We are sad to leave).

3. Nos da pena tener que irnos (I am sorry we have to leave).

4. Es una pena que nos vayamos (Too bad we leave).

On the other hand, we should be aware that, depending on the region or country, "me da pena" means "I am sad" or "I feel embarrassed", or both, depending on the situation or context, as DonBigoteDeLaLancha said before.

Thank You very much, Raff :) - FELIZ77, May 10, 2017

Answer 3

Hello Phils,

Welcome to our Spanishdict community forum

I am not a native Spanish speaker but I think you could also say /could have said:

Update:

I have made some necessary corrections courtesy of Raff who is one of our highly valued native Spanish speakers to take into account the correct way to say what you have asked in your question, because I would not want to unintentionally mislead anybody reading my post as to how to accurately say the following English sentences:

ex' s: 1.Me da pena tener que irme = I am very sorry to have to leave.

2.Nos da pena tener que irnos = We are sorry to have to leave.

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor