Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.

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.

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.

Καθυστέρησα is the aorist (simple past) of καθυστερώ.

Here it means:

• I was late
• I got delayed
• I arrived late

The Greek aorist often expresses a completed event in the past, similar to the English simple past.

So:

• καθυστερώ = I am late / I delay
• καθυστέρησα = I was late / I got delayed

In this sentence, it refers to one specific past incident: the speaker was late on this occasion.

Both relate to being late, but they are different verbs with slightly different uses.

1. καθυστερώ

This often means:

• to be late
• to delay
• to be delayed

So καθυστέρησα can mean I was late or I got delayed.

2. αργώ

This means:

• to be late
• to take a long time
• to arrive late

So το λεωφορείο άργησε means the bus was late.

In this sentence, Greek uses two natural verbs:

• I was late / got delayed
• the bus was late again

That sounds very normal in Greek.

Because the bus being late is also a completed past event.

• άργησε = was late / arrived late

So the whole sentence is describing:

1. the speaker’s apology now
2. two past events:
   • the speaker was late
   • the bus was late again

That is why you get:

• Λυπάμαι = present
• καθυστέρησα = past
• άργησε = past

This mix of present + past is completely normal.

Because Greek usually does not need subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

In καθυστέρησα, the ending -σα tells you it is I.

So Greek normally says:

• καθυστέρησα = I was late

not necessarily:

• εγώ καθυστέρησα

You can add εγώ (I) for emphasis, but it is not needed.

This is a very common feature of Greek:

• ήρθα = I came
• είδα = I saw
• άργησα = I was late

In this sentence, το λεωφορείο means the bus.

Greek uses the definite article very often, sometimes more often than English learners expect. Here it is completely natural to say:

• το λεωφορείο άργησε = the bus was late

The article agrees with the noun:

• το = neuter singular article
• λεωφορείο = neuter singular noun meaning bus

So together:

• το λεωφορείο = the bus

You would normally include the article here.

Λεωφορείο is neuter.

That matters because articles and some adjectives must agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case.

Here you have:

• το λεωφορείο
  
  • το = neuter singular nominative/accusative
  • λεωφορείο = neuter singular

So if you learn a noun in Greek, it is very helpful to learn it together with its article:

• το λεωφορείο = the bus

That way you remember its gender automatically.

Πάλι here means again.

So:

• το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι = the bus was late again

It suggests that this is not the first time. There is a sense of repetition, often with a slight tone of annoyance:

• again
• once again
• yet again

So the sentence sounds like: I’m sorry I was late, but the bus was late again.

Yes. Αλλά means but.

It connects the apology with the explanation:

• Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα, αλλά...
• I’m sorry I was late, but...

So the second clause gives the reason or excuse:

• ...το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.
• ...the bus was late again.

This is a very common and straightforward conjunction.

In normal everyday English, the best match is:

• I’m sorry I was late

Word-for-word, you could think of it as:

• I am sorry that I was delayed / late

But in real usage, it functions as a normal apology.

So if you are learning how to speak naturally, understand it primarily as:

• I’m sorry I was late

rather than as a very formal I regret that I delayed.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

Lypámai pou kathystérisa, allá to leoforeío árgise páli.

A few stress points:

• Λυπάμαι → stress on πά
• καθυστέρησα → stress on στέ
• αλλά → stress on the second ά
• λεωφορείο → stress on ρί
• άργησε → stress on άρ
• πάλι → stress on πά

The written accents in Greek are very helpful, because they show you where the stress goes.

Yes. Greek has several natural alternatives, depending on style and nuance.

For example:

• Συγγνώμη που άργησα, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.
  = Sorry I was late, but the bus was late again.

This sounds a bit more direct and conversational because Συγγνώμη is a very common word for sorry.

Another possibility:

• Λυπάμαι για την καθυστέρηση, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.
  = I’m sorry for the delay, but the bus was late again.

So the original sentence is perfectly natural, but not the only possible phrasing.

The only noun here is λεωφορείο, and it is in the nominative case because it is the subject of άργησε.

• το λεωφορείο άργησε
• the bus was late

The subject of a verb in Greek normally appears in the nominative, just as in many other Indo-European languages.

There are no object nouns here, so you do not see the accusative in this sentence.

Yes, the comma is standard here.

Greek punctuation usually puts a comma before coordinating conjunctions like αλλά when they join two full clauses:

• Λυπάμαι που καθυστέρησα, αλλά το λεωφορείο άργησε πάλι.

That comma helps separate:

1. the apology
2. the explanation

So the punctuation works very much like English here.