Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.

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Breakdown of Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.

• πάλι: again
• το λεωφορείο: the bus
• που: that

Questions & Answers about Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.

Why does the sentence start with Λυπάμαι? Does it literally mean I am sorry?

Yes. Λυπάμαι means I’m sorry, I’m sad, or I regret it, depending on context.

In this sentence, Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα is the natural Greek way to say:

• I’m sorry that I was late
• I’m sorry for being late

A useful thing to notice is that Λυπάμαι is in the present tense, even though the lateness happened in the past. That is because the speaker’s feeling is happening now:

• I am sorry now
• about something that happened earlier

So the Greek structure matches the English idea very closely.

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What does που mean here?

Here που introduces a clause and means something like that:

• Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα = I’m sorry that I was late

This is a very common pattern in Greek after verbs of emotion or reaction.

For example:

• Χαίρομαι που ήρθες. = I’m glad that you came.
• Λυπάμαι που δεν μπορώ. = I’m sorry that I can’t.

So in this sentence, που is not really where or which; it is a connector introducing what the speaker is sorry about.

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Why is καθυστέρησα in the past tense, and what exactly does it mean?