Позже я ещё раз сказал, что сожалею, а потом сам виновато отвёл глаза.

Because Russian past-tense verbs agree with the gender of the subject.

Here the subject is я, but Russian does not show gender in я itself, so the verb tells you the speaker is male:

• сказал = a male speaker said
• отвёл = a male speaker averted his eyes

If the speaker were female, it would be:

• сказала
• отвела

So this sentence strongly suggests a male narrator.

This is very normal in Russian.

Russian does not always shift tenses backward the way English often does after verbs like said. So:

• сказал, что сожалею = literally said that I regret / am sorry
• in natural English, this is often translated as said that I was sorry

Russian keeps сожалею in the present because it reflects what the speaker said at that moment.

Compare:

• Я сказал, что не знаю. = I said that I didn’t know / I don’t know
• Он сказал, что придёт. = He said that he would come

So the Russian tense system here is more direct than English sequence-of-tense rules.

Because сказать and говорить are different aspects and have slightly different meanings.

• сказать = to say, to utter, to make a specific statement
• говорить = to speak, to be speaking, to talk, to say in a more process-like or repeated sense

In this sentence, сказал fits because it refers to one completed act of saying something:

• Позже я ещё раз сказал... = Later I said once again...

If you used говорил, it would sound more like ongoing speech, repeated speech, or emphasis on the process rather than the completed statement.

Ещё раз means once more, again, or one more time.

So:

• Позже я ещё раз сказал, что сожалею = Later I said once again that I was sorry

It emphasizes repetition: the speaker had already said it before, and then said it again.

Very common examples:

• Повтори ещё раз. = Repeat it once more.
• Я ещё раз проверил. = I checked again.

Because in Russian the subject pronoun is often omitted when it is clear from the verb ending.

• сожалею already means I regret / I am sorry
• the ending -ю tells you it is first person singular

So что сожалею naturally means that I am sorry / that I regret it.

Russian often drops pronouns when they are not needed:

• Я знаю. = I know.
• Знаю. = I know.

Both are possible, but the second is often more natural when the subject is obvious.

Here сам does not mean alone. It adds emphasis, something like:

• myself
• I myself
• personally

So:

• а потом сам виновато отвёл глаза = and then I myself guiltily averted my eyes

It can suggest that the speaker personally did this, perhaps almost involuntarily, or that even the speaker reacted that way.

Compare:

• Я сам это сделал. = I did it myself.
• Он сам пришёл. = He came himself / on his own.

So in this sentence, сам is emphatic, not about being physically alone.

Here виновато functions like an adverb and means:

• guiltily
• sheepishly
• in a guilty way

It describes how the speaker averted his eyes.

So:

• виновато отвёл глаза = guiltily averted his eyes

Russian often uses -о forms like this to describe manner:

• сердито = angrily
• удивлённо = in surprise / surprisedly
• виновато = guiltily

In English, sheepishly may sometimes sound especially natural, depending on context.

Literally, it means something like turned away the eyes.

Naturally, in English, it means:

• averted his eyes
• looked away

This is a common expression in Russian, especially when someone feels:

• guilt
• embarrassment
• shame
• discomfort

So виновато отвёл глаза paints a clear emotional picture: the speaker could not keep eye contact and looked away guiltily.

Because глаза is the direct object of отвёл in the expression отвести глаза.

• глаза here is accusative plural
• for an inanimate plural noun like глаза, nominative and accusative look the same

This is just how the idiom works:

• отвести глаза = to avert one’s eyes

If you used глазами, that would be instrumental plural and would not fit this expression.

In Russian, а does not always mean a strong but. It often works as a transition between two parts of a story.

Here а потом means something like:

• and then
• and after that
• then

It can also add a slight narrative contrast: first the speaker said he was sorry, and then he reacted physically by looking away.

So in this sentence, а is not strongly adversative. It is more like a smooth but meaningful shift to the next action.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and putting Позже first sets the time frame right away:

• Позже = later

So the sentence begins by anchoring the action in time:

• Позже я ещё раз сказал... = Later I once again said...

You could move words around, but the emphasis would change. For example:

• Я позже ещё раз сказал... also works, but the sentence now starts with I, not later

Russian often puts time words early when they help frame the scene.