Undskyld, jeg kommer for sent til mødet i dag.

Yes. Undskyld is the standard Danish word for sorry or excuse me.

In this sentence, it works like Sorry at the start of an apology:

• Undskyld, jeg kommer for sent ... = Sorry, I’m late / I’ll be late ...

It can also be used to get someone’s attention, like Excuse me.

A related word is beklager, which can sound a bit more formal or serious:

• Jeg beklager, at jeg kommer for sent. = I’m sorry that I’m late.

In Danish, komme for sent is a very common way to say be late or arrive late.

So:

• jeg kommer for sent literally means I come too late
• but naturally it means I’m late or I’ll be late

Danish often uses the present tense to talk about something happening soon or as part of a current situation, so jeg kommer for sent can sound very natural for I’m running late.

You could also say:

• Jeg er forsinket = I am delayed / running late

That is also correct, but jeg kommer for sent is extremely common in everyday speech.

For sent means too late or simply late in this kind of sentence.

It is made up of:

• for = too
• sent = late

So literally:

• komme for sent = come too late

Even though the literal meaning includes too, in normal English translation you usually just say:

• I’m late
• I’ll be late

This is a fixed Danish expression, so learners should try to remember komme for sent as a whole phrase.

Because Danish builds the idea differently.

In English, late is enough on its own:

• I’m late

In Danish, the usual expression is:

• komme for sent

So you should not think of it as a word-for-word match with English. It is just the normal Danish pattern.

Also note that forsent as one word is generally not how this expression is written here. The standard phrase is for sent.

After for sent, Danish normally uses til for the event or destination you are late for.

So:

• for sent til mødet = late for the meeting
• for sent til skole = late for school
• for sent til arbejdet = late for work

English uses for, but Danish uses til in this structure. This is a common preposition difference that learners just need to memorize.

Because mødet is the definite form, meaning the meeting.

In Danish, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun:

• et møde = a meeting
• mødet = the meeting

So:

• til et møde = to a meeting
• til mødet = to the meeting

That -et ending shows that the meeting is specific.

I dag means today. It is a time expression.

Putting it at the end is very natural in Danish:

• Undskyld, jeg kommer for sent til mødet i dag.

This is similar to English:

• Sorry, I’m late for the meeting today.

You can sometimes move time expressions around for emphasis, but the version here is completely normal and neutral.

Yes, sometimes.

For example:

• Undskyld, jeg kommer i dag for sent til mødet.
• Undskyld, i dag kommer jeg for sent til mødet.

But these versions change the emphasis, and some may sound less neutral in everyday use.

The original sentence:

• Undskyld, jeg kommer for sent til mødet i dag.

is the most natural choice if you simply want to say the information clearly.

Because Undskyld here is being used as a separate interjection, not as the first element of the sentence grammar.

So the structure is really:

• Undskyld,
  • jeg kommer for sent til mødet i dag.

The main clause still begins with jeg, so normal word order stays:

• jeg kommer

If something like I dag were moved to the front of the actual clause, then inversion would happen:

• I dag kommer jeg for sent til mødet.

That is a classic Danish V2 pattern: when something other than the subject comes first in the clause, the verb comes before the subject.

It can feel like either, depending on context.

Jeg kommer for sent can mean:

• I’m late
• I’m running late
• I’ll be late

Danish present tense often covers situations that English may express with either present or future.

So if you send this before the meeting starts, it probably means:

• Sorry, I’ll be late for the meeting today.

If the meeting has already started, it may feel more like:

• Sorry, I’m late for the meeting today.

Yes, that is possible.

• Jeg er forsinket = I am delayed / I’m running late

So:

• Undskyld, jeg er forsinket til mødet i dag is understandable and correct.

But jeg kommer for sent til mødet is often the more everyday, idiomatic way to say it.

A small nuance:

• jeg kommer for sent focuses on arriving late
• jeg er forsinket focuses on being delayed

In many real situations, they overlap a lot.

A careful approximation is:

• Undskyld ≈ UN-skyl
• jeg ≈ yai or a very soft yigh
• kommer ≈ KOM-er
• for sent ≈ foh sent
• til mødet ≈ til MØ-thid or til MØ-eth
• i dag ≈ ee DAI

A few important notes:

• Danish d is often very soft
• ø has no exact English equivalent
• jeg is not pronounced like English jegg

If you are learning pronunciation, mødet and j eg are especially worth listening to from native speakers.

Yes. This is a very useful structure.

You can replace mødet with many other nouns:

• Jeg kommer for sent til skolen. = I’m late for school.
• Jeg kommer for sent til arbejdet. = I’m late for work.
• Jeg kommer for sent til festen. = I’m late for the party.
• Jeg kommer for sent til timen. = I’m late for class.

So the pattern to remember is:

Jeg kommer for sent til + noun

It is neutral and completely natural in everyday Danish.

You could say it:

• in speech
• in a text message
• in an email to colleagues
• before entering a meeting

If you want to sound slightly more formal, you could say:

• Undskyld, jeg kommer for sent til mødet i dag.
• Jeg beklager, at jeg kommer for sent til mødet i dag.

The second one sounds a bit more formal and polished, but the original sentence is perfectly appropriate in many situations.