lo siento / low see-EN-to / I’m sorry
disculpe / diss-COOL-pay / excuse me
perdón / pear-DON / pardon me
permiso / per-MEE-soh / pardon me
Some more “helpful” words to know to be a more polite and well-rounded traveler. After all, you want to be able to pull off being Canadian, you gotta act the part.
Lo siento is the most Canadian of the apologies — you use it when you are offering condolences, or you truly are sorry about something (rather than just a throwaway ‘excuse me’ kind of sorry), or when you’ve got a couple of giant Samoan dudes looking at you like you’ve just misdemeaned their entire family.
Disculpe is the ‘excuse me sir can I get your attention’ sort of ‘excuse me.’
Perdón is the ‘sorry for bumping into you like a savage’ sort of ‘pardon me.’ This is the throwaway apology and is probably good for most other uses — so if you only remember one, this is probably the one.
Permiso is the ‘you’re in my way’ sort of ‘pardon me,’ good for getting out of metro trains and through crowds.