申し訳

Japanese

Alternative spellings
申し譯 (kyūjitai) 申訳

申(もう)し訳(わけ) • (mōshiwake) ^{←まうしわけ (mausiwake)^?}

(honorific) apology, excuse
まことに申(もう)し訳(わけ)ございません。
Makoto ni mōshiwake gozaimasen.
I am really sorry.
(literally, “Sincerely I have no excuse.”)

申し訳 is almost always used in expressing apology as in 申(もう)し訳(わけ)ない (mōshiwakenai). The level of humbleness increases as ない morphing into more polite form such as ありません (arimasen), ございません (gozaimasen) or なく存(ぞん)じます (naku zonjimasu), as well as the adverb preceding 申し訳, e.g. ほんとに (honto ni), まことに (makoto ni), 非(ひ)常(じょう)に (hijō ni) or 大(たい)変(へん) (taihen), etc.
- Another apologetic expression with similar humbleness to 申し訳ない is "お詫(わ)び申(もう)し上(あ)げます (owabi mōshiagemasu)".
When stating or blaming someone for using an excuse for mistake or wrongdoing, 言(い)い訳(わけ) (īwake) is always used instead.

^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN