Perdona. No era mi intención. ¿Me perdonas?

Both are possible, but they are not exactly the same.

• Perdona is the tú imperative of perdonar: literally, forgive (me).
• Perdón is a noun meaning pardon.

In real speech, both can work like sorry or excuse me, but Perdona sounds a bit more directly addressed to the other person, while Perdón can feel shorter and more formulaic.

So:

• Perdona = Forgive me / Sorry
• Perdón = Pardon / Sorry / Excuse me

In this sentence, Perdona fits well because the speaker is apologizing personally.

Perdona is informal singular, used when speaking to one person you would call tú.

In Spain, the equivalents are:

• Perdona = informal singular
• Perdone = formal singular
• Perdonad = informal plural (vosotros)
• Perdonen = formal plural (ustedes)

So if you were speaking politely to a stranger, especially in a more formal context, you might say Perdone instead.

Spanish often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

• Perdonas already tells you the subject is tú
• Era is understood from context
• Perdona is an imperative for tú

So ¿Me perdonas? naturally means Do you forgive me? without needing tú.

You could say ¿Tú me perdonas?, but that adds emphasis or contrast, as if you were stressing you.

This is a very common learner question. Both are possible, but they suggest slightly different things.

• No era mi intención uses the imperfect and is the most natural, idiomatic way to say That wasn’t my intention / I didn’t mean to.
• No fue mi intención uses the preterite and sounds more specific or more tied to a completed event.

In apologies, Spanish often prefers era here because it describes the speaker’s intention as a background state rather than a single completed action.

So:

• No era mi intención = the usual, natural apology phrase
• No fue mi intención = possible, but less neutral and often less common in this exact type of apology

Yes, intención is a close equivalent of intention.

In No era mi intención, it means:

• That was not what I meant
• I didn’t intend that
• I didn’t mean to do that

Spanish often uses ser + mi intención where English might prefer I didn’t mean to...

So instead of directly saying I didn’t intend it, Spanish commonly says:

• No era mi intención

It is very natural and idiomatic.

Because me means me, the person being forgiven.

The verb perdonar can take a person as its object:

• Perdonas a Juan = You forgive Juan
• Me perdonas = You forgive me

When the object is a pronoun, Spanish uses the object pronoun:

• me = me
• te = you
• lo/la = him/her/it
• nos = us

So ¿Me perdonas? literally means Do you forgive me?

Because after a verb, Spanish does not use a mí by itself as the normal object in this kind of sentence.

The normal form is the pronoun:

• ¿Me perdonas?

If you want emphasis, you can add the prepositional phrase too:

• ¿Me perdonas a mí?

That sounds like Do you forgive me? with extra emphasis on me.

So:

• normal = ¿Me perdonas?
• emphatic = ¿Me perdonas a mí?

Spanish often uses the present tense to ask about an immediate or current reaction, where English might use either present or future.

So ¿Me perdonas? literally looks like Do you forgive me?, but in context it means something like:

• Do you forgive me?
• Will you forgive me?
• Can you forgive me?

It is a very natural way to ask for forgiveness right now.

You could also hear:

• ¿Me perdonarás? = Will you forgive me?
• ¿Puedes perdonarme? = Can you forgive me?

But ¿Me perdonas? sounds warm, direct, and natural.

Both are correct, but they feel slightly different.

• ¿Me perdonas? is more direct and emotionally immediate: Do/Will you forgive me?
• ¿Puedes perdonarme? literally means Can you forgive me?, so it focuses more on whether the person is able or willing to forgive.

Also notice the grammar:

• ¿Me perdonas? = pronoun before the conjugated verb
• ¿Puedes perdonarme? = pronoun attached to the infinitive perdonar

Both are common and natural.

Yes. Perdona is very flexible.

In Spain, it can mean:

• sorry
• forgive me
• excuse me
• pardon? / what did you say? in some contexts

For example:

• Perdona, ¿qué hora es? = Excuse me, what time is it?
• Perdona, no te oí. = Sorry, I didn’t hear you.

In your sentence, though, it is clearly an apology, not just a way to get attention.

Yes, it sounds natural and idiomatic in Spain.

Perdona. No era mi intención. ¿Me perdonas? is a very normal way to apologize in a personal, sincere way.

It has a natural emotional progression:

1. Perdona. = immediate apology
2. No era mi intención. = explanation without sounding too defensive
3. ¿Me perdonas? = asking for forgiveness directly

That makes it sound very human and conversational.

Yes, and that is another very common option.

• Lo siento = I’m sorry
• Perdona = Forgive me / Sorry

The difference is mostly in nuance:

• Lo siento focuses more on feeling sorry
• Perdona focuses more on asking the other person to forgive you

So these are both natural:

• Lo siento. No era mi intención.
• Perdona. No era mi intención.

Using Perdona plus ¿Me perdonas? creates a nice repetition around the idea of forgiveness.

Spanish uses two question marks:

• an opening one: ¿
• a closing one: ?

So a direct question is written like this:

• ¿Me perdonas?

This helps the reader know from the beginning that the sentence is a question.

The same happens with exclamations:

• ¡Gracias!

This is standard spelling in Spanish and should always be used in writing.

A rough guide in Spain would be:

• Perdona → pehr-DOH-na
• No era mi intención → no EH-ra mi in-ten-THYON in much of Spain
• ¿Me perdonas? → meh pehr-DOH-nas

A few useful notes:

• In much of Spain, c before i/e and z are pronounced like the th in think, so intención sounds like inten-thyon.
• The stress is:
  • perDOna
  • Era
  • intenCIÓN
  • perDOnas

If you are learning Spain Spanish, that th sound in intención is one of the most noticeable pronunciation features.