61.3. ‘Excuse’ and ‘Sorry’
Models
| 1) | ₭Á¸ELEX SW̱. | ‘Excuse me.’ |
| 2) | ₭Á¸ELEX SW̱ HÁLE. | ‘Excuse me (to a group).’ |
| 3) | ₭Á¸ELEX. YÁ¸ SEN SḴILEṈ. | ‘Excuse me. I'm going outside.’ |
| 4) | ȾIW̱EṈ SW̱ I¸ ₭Á¸ELEX SW̱. | ‘Please excuse me.’ |
| 5) | ȾIW̱EṈ SW̱ EN¸ SU¸ ₭Á¸ELEX. | ‘Please excuse me.’ |
| 6) | ÁN¸ U¸ XEȽ TŦE NE ŚW̱ḰÁLEȻEN | ‘I’m very sorry |
| Ȼ NE STI₭NOṈE. | that I bumped you.’ |
‣ 1 The key word in models 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is ₭Á¸ELEX. This word means basically ‘look out, watch out.’ So, ₭Á¸ELEX SW̱ ȻE ȽIQSEN¸EW̱ means ‘Look out, you’ll trip.’
‣ 2 Used as in the models ₭Á¸ELEX is translated ‘excuse me’ and is not considered rude as ‘look out’ might be in English.
‣ 3 Model 1 could be used if you reach in front of someone or want to get by someone in your way. And model 2 would be perfectly polite and appropriate to use when trying to walk through a crowd of people.
‣ 4 Model 3 shows that ₭Á¸ELEX can be used as a sentence alone without the ‘look out, watch out’ interpretation.
‣ 5 Models 4 and 5 show how ₭Á¸ELEX can be combined with ȾIW̱EṈ (§61.1) to make an extra polite ‘excuse me please.’
‣ 6 There is no word in SENĆOŦEN that directly translates as ‘sorry.’ To apologize, use the pattern shown in model 6. The beginning ÁN¸ U¸ XEȽ TŦE NE ŚW̱ḰÁLEȻEN is literally ‘My mind is very hurt’ or ‘I feel very bad.’ To make it an apology, you have to add what you are sorry for in a Ȼ clause.
 | ₭Á¸ELEX SW̱. | ‘Excuse me.’ |
 | LEKÁȽ E SEN? | ‘Am I in the way?’ |
| HÁ¸E. SQȺ Ȼ NE SŚELEJ. | ‘Yes. I can’t go around.’ |
| ÁN¸ U¸ XEȽ TŦE NE ŚW̱ḰÁLEȻEN | ‘I’m very sorry |
| Ȼ NE SLEKÁȽ. | that I’m in the way.’ |
61.3A. Write a new SENĆOŦEN based on each of the 6 models. 61.3B. Write an original SENĆOŦEN dialogue that uses ‘please,’ ‘thank you,’ ‘excuse me,’ and ‘sorry.’ |