Die Verkäuferin sagt, es sei wirklich abgelaufen, und entschuldigt sich freundlich.

Es sei is Konjunktiv I (subjunctive I), which is very common in German for reported/indirect speech. It signals that the speaker is reporting what someone says rather than stating it as their own fact.

• Direct speech: Die Verkäuferin sagt: Es ist wirklich abgelaufen.
• Indirect speech: Die Verkäuferin sagt, es sei wirklich abgelaufen.

In everyday speech many people also use es ist in indirect speech, but es sei is especially typical in more formal written German (news, reports) and is also perfectly correct in speech.

Sei comes from the verb sein (to be). In Konjunktiv I, the forms are:

• ich sei
• du seiest
• er/sie/es sei
• wir seien
• ihr seiet
• sie/Sie seien

So es sei = it is (reported).

Abgelaufen literally means run out / expired. In this context it typically refers to something like food, medicine, a ticket, a contract, etc., whose validity date has passed.

Grammatically, abgelaufen is the past participle of ablaufen, but here it functions like an adjective/predicate with sein:

• etwas ist abgelaufen = something is expired

Es is a pronoun meaning it. It refers back to whatever item was being talked about (e.g., die Milch, das Produkt, der Gutschein, etc.). German often uses a neutral es when the exact noun isn’t repeated in the sentence, especially when the item has already been established in context.

If you explicitly refer to a noun, you’d match grammatical gender:

• Die Milch sei abgelaufen. (feminine → sie if using a pronoun)
• Der Joghurt sei abgelaufen. (masculine → er)
• Das Produkt sei abgelaufen. (neuter → es)

Because Die Verkäuferin sagt, ... is a main clause followed by a subordinate clause (here: an indirect-speech clause). German uses a comma to separate those clauses:

• Main clause: Die Verkäuferin sagt
• Subordinate/embedded clause: es sei wirklich abgelaufen

This comma is mandatory in standard German.

In an embedded clause introduced after a comma (reported speech without dass), German still uses subordinate clause word order, meaning the conjugated verb typically comes later than in a normal main clause.

Compare:

• Main clause (verb 2nd): Es ist wirklich abgelaufen.
• Indirect clause: ..., es sei wirklich abgelaufen.

Sei es ... would be a different construction (often sounding like a formula or inversion) and isn’t the normal way to report speech here.

Yes. That’s another very common option. Differences:

• ..., dass es wirklich abgelaufen ist: very common in everyday speech, neutral
• ..., es sei wirklich abgelaufen: more formal/reporting style, highlights indirect speech

Both can mean the same thing in practice.

Wirklich means really / actually / genuinely. It can:

• emphasize certainty: it really is expired
• imply confirmation after checking: it turns out it’s expired

So it strengthens the statement abgelaufen.

German often omits repeating the subject when two verbs share the same subject in a coordinated structure:

• Die Verkäuferin sagt ..., und (sie) entschuldigt sich freundlich.

It’s understood that die Verkäuferin is still the subject of entschuldigt sich.

Sich entschuldigen is a reflexive verb meaning to apologize.

• Sie entschuldigt sich. = She apologizes.

Literally it looks like to excuse oneself, which is why German uses the reflexive pronoun sich (3rd person).

Common patterns:

• sich bei jemandem entschuldigen = apologize to someone
• sich für etwas entschuldigen = apologize for something

Here freundlich is used as an adverb, describing how she apologizes: in a friendly way.

• Adjective (describing a noun): eine freundliche Verkäuferin
• Adverb (describing a verb): Sie entschuldigt sich freundlich.

In German, adverbs often look identical to the base adjective form (no extra ending).

Both are present tense. German frequently uses the present tense for:

• current actions (she says... and apologizes...), or
• narrative present (making a story feel immediate)

If you wanted to place it clearly in the past, you could say:

• Die Verkäuferin sagte ..., und entschuldigte sich freundlich.