Прости меня, пожалуйста.

Прости is the imperative singular form of the verb простить, which means to forgive.

So in this sentence, прости means forgive! when speaking to one person in an informal way.

Related forms:

• простить = the dictionary form, to forgive
• прости = forgive! (informal, to one person)
• простите = forgive! (formal, or to more than one person)

Because меня is the form of я used when it is the object of the verb.

In English, compare:

• I forgive
• forgive me

Russian works similarly:

• я = I
• меня = me

Since the sentence means forgive me, Russian uses меня, not я.

Меня is in the accusative case here because it is the direct object of простить.

The verb простить usually takes:

• the person being forgiven in the accusative
• sometimes the reason with за
  • accusative

For example:

• Прости меня. = Forgive me.
• Прости меня за ошибку. = Forgive me for the mistake.

So меня answers the question forgive whom? → me.

Here, пожалуйста means please.

So:

• Прости меня. = Forgive me.
• Прости меня, пожалуйста. = Please forgive me.

A useful thing to know is that пожалуйста can also mean you’re welcome in other contexts, but in this sentence it clearly means please.

In Russian, пожалуйста is very flexible. It can often appear at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.

All of these are natural:

• Прости меня, пожалуйста.
• Пожалуйста, прости меня.
• Прости, пожалуйста.

Putting it at the end is very common and sounds natural. It softens the request and makes it more polite.

Yes. Прости is used when speaking to:

• one person
• informally
• someone you call ты

If you want to be formal or speak to more than one person, use:

• Простите меня, пожалуйста.

So:

• Прости = informal singular
• Простите = formal singular or plural

This is about aspect, which is very important in Russian.

• простить = perfective
• прощать = imperfective

In requests like this, Russian very often uses the perfective imperative to ask for a complete result:

• Прости меня. = Forgive me. / Please forgive me.

It suggests a single completed act of forgiveness.

The imperfective imperative прощай exists, but it usually does not fit this meaning. In fact, Прощай is commonly used as farewell / goodbye, literally something like forgive me and part from me, so it is a different word in practice.

So for forgive me, the normal form is прости.

Yes, you often can.

• Прости. = Sorry. / Forgive me.
• Прости меня. = Forgive me.

In real speech, Прости by itself is very common, especially when the meaning is obvious from context.

Adding меня makes it more explicit and sometimes more emotional or emphatic.

Often yes, in practice it can function a lot like sorry, but the literal meaning is stronger: forgive me.

Russian also commonly uses:

• Извини.
• Извините.

These are often closer to everyday sorry / excuse me.

Very roughly:

• Прости can sound more personal or heartfelt
• Извини is extremely common for everyday apologies

But in many situations they overlap.

Both can be used to apologize, but they are not exactly identical.

• Прости comes from простить = to forgive
• Извини comes from извинить = to excuse / pardon

In everyday use:

• Извини is very common for ordinary situations: bumping into someone, interrupting, making a small mistake
• Прости can sound more emotional, deeper, or more sincere, especially in personal situations

For example:

• Извини, который час? = Excuse me, what time is it?
• Прости меня, пожалуйста. = Please forgive me.

You usually would not use прости to get a stranger’s attention in the way you use excuse me.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

Possible versions:

• Прости меня, пожалуйста.
• Пожалуйста, прости меня.
• Меня прости, пожалуйста.

They all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly.

For example:

• Прости меня, пожалуйста. = neutral and natural
• Пожалуйста, прости меня. = stronger emphasis on the plea
• Меня прости, пожалуйста. = emphasis on me

So the original sentence is a very standard, natural word order.

The stress is:

• прости́
• меня́
• пожа́луйста

A rough pronunciation guide:

• прости́ ≈ pra-stee
• меня́ ≈ mee-NYA
• пожа́луйста ≈ pa-ZHA-luy-sta

A more natural connected pronunciation is something like:

pras-TEE mi-NYA pa-ZHA-luysta

The unstressed vowels reduce in Russian, so the written о often sounds closer to a when unstressed.

You usually add за + accusative.

Pattern:

• Прости меня за... = Forgive me for...

Examples:

• Прости меня за ошибку. = Forgive me for the mistake.
• Прости меня за опоздание. = Forgive me for being late.
• Прости меня за всё. = Forgive me for everything.

So Прости меня, пожалуйста is complete on its own, but it can easily be expanded with за... if needed.