sumimasen, miti ni mayotte, kaigi ni tikokusimasita.

Here, すみません is an apology: I’m sorry.

It can also mean:

• Excuse me
• Thank you / I’m sorry to trouble you in some situations

But in this sentence, because the speaker is explaining why they were late, すみません clearly means I’m sorry.

It is polite and very common in everyday Japanese.

The expression is 道に迷う, which means to lose one’s way / to get lost.

So in this phrase:

• 道 = road / way
• に = part of the fixed pattern here
• 迷う = to be lost / to lose one’s way

You should learn 道に迷う as a set expression.

This に is different from the に in 会議に遅刻しました, even though they look the same. Particles often have different functions depending on the expression.

迷って is the -て form of 迷う.

• dictionary form: 迷う
• -て form: 迷って

In this sentence, the -て form connects two actions/events:

• 道に迷って = I got lost
• 会議に遅刻しました = I was late for the meeting

Together, it means something like:

• I got lost, and I was late for the meeting
• or more naturally, I got lost and ended up being late for the meeting

Here, the -て form also suggests a reason or cause: getting lost led to being late.

In this kind of sentence, I got lost is usually the most natural translation.

道に迷う often means:

• to lose one’s way
• to get lost

English may translate it as was lost in some contexts, but here the sentence is describing what caused the lateness, so got lost fits well.

With 遅刻する (to be late), the thing you are late for is marked with に.

So:

• 会議に遅刻しました = I was late for the meeting

Examples:

• 学校に遅刻した = I was late for school
• 授業に遅刻した = I was late for class

So this に marks the target/event that your lateness relates to.

Both can relate to being late, but they are not exactly the same.

• 遅刻する = to be late for school, work, a meeting, class, etc.
• 遅れる = to be late / delayed in a broader sense

So:

• 会議に遅刻しました sounds very natural for I was late for the meeting
• 会議に遅れました can also be understood, but 遅刻しました is more specifically about tardiness to an event or obligation

In other words, 遅刻する is a very common word when a person arrives late to something scheduled.

The subject is omitted, which is very normal in Japanese.

From context, we understand that the speaker means:

• I’m sorry
• I got lost
• I was late for the meeting

Japanese often leaves out words like I, you, or he/she when they are obvious from context.

So the full idea is understood without saying 私は.

The sentence is in polite past form because the speaker is making a polite apology.

• しました = polite past of する
• すみません is also polite

This gives the whole sentence a polite tone, appropriate for speaking to:

• a coworker
• a boss
• a client
• a teacher
• someone you don’t know well

A casual version might be:

• ごめん、道に迷って、会議に遅刻した。

It can feel like both.

Grammatically, -て connects clauses, so the basic function is and. But in many cases, especially like this one, it also implies a natural cause/result relationship.

So 道に迷って、会議に遅刻しました can be understood as:

• I got lost, and I was late for the meeting
• I got lost, so I was late for the meeting
• Because I got lost, I was late for the meeting

All of those capture the meaning well.

Yes. You could make the reason more explicit.

For example:

• 道に迷ったので、会議に遅刻しました。
• 道に迷ったから、会議に遅刻しました。

Differences:

• ので sounds a bit softer and more formal
• から is more direct and common in conversation
• the -て form is more compact and natural in many spoken explanations

Since the sentence begins with すみません, the original version sounds like a smooth spoken apology.

The commas help show pauses in speech.

• すみません、 = a pause after the apology
• 道に迷って、 = a pause before the result

Japanese commas are often used more flexibly than English commas. They do not always follow strict rules the way English punctuation does. In this sentence, they mainly make it easier to read and reflect natural spoken rhythm.

Literally, 道 means road, street, or way.

But in 道に迷う, it often means losing your way in general, not just being confused about one specific road. So the whole phrase naturally means:

• to get lost
• to lose one’s way

It is a very common expression.

You could say:

• 私は道に迷って、会議に遅刻しました。

But in most real situations, it is unnecessary because it is already obvious that the speaker is talking about themselves.

In fact, adding 私は can sometimes sound slightly more deliberate or contrastive, as if you are emphasizing I. In a normal apology, Japanese usually sounds more natural without it.

A plain/casual version would be:

• ごめん、道に迷って、会議に遅刻した。

Changes:

• すみません → ごめん for a casual apology
• 遅刻しました → 遅刻した plain past

You might use that with a friend, but not in a formal work situation.

Yes, it is complete and natural.

It works especially well as an apology plus explanation:

• すみません = apology
• 道に迷って = explanation/cause
• 会議に遅刻しました = result

It sounds like something you could actually say after arriving late to a meeting.