Which one should you use?
While the general apology すみません can mean "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me," お待たせしました is the specific, standard phrase used to acknowledge the time someone spent waiting for you.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The standard お待たせしました is a polite expression. For more casual situations, such as speaking to friends or family members, you can shorten the phrase to お待たせ. In very formal contexts like business or high-end service, you can use the more humble form お待たせいたしました. Additionally, the extremely formal Taihen o-machi itadaki, môshiwake arimasen deshita. can be used to say, "I'm terribly sorry for making you wait."
How does it change in a sentence?
To make the apology more humble and formal, you can replace the shimashita in お待たせしました with itashimashita, resulting in お待たせいたしました.
How do you pronounce it?
omatase shimashita
Did you know?
- In Japanese restaurants, waiters often say お待たせしました when bringing food to the table, even if the kitchen was only gone for a few minutes.
- The use of the prefix お (o) in お待たせ is not just for politeness, but it serves to beautify the action of waiting, treating the time spent by the listener as something precious.
- When using the very formal version, お待たせいたしました, you are using 'kenjougo', or humble language. This specifically lowers your own status to elevate the person who has been waiting.
Examples in context
- お待たせしました。Omatase shimashita.Sorry to keep you waiting.
- 料理をお待たせしました。Ryōri o omatase shimashita.Sorry to keep you waiting for the food.
Example conversation
A man arrives late to a cafe to meet a woman.
- 大翔 Hiroto美咲さん、お待たせしました。Misaki-san, omatase shimashita.Misaki, sorry to keep you waiting.
- 美咲 Misaki大丈夫ですよ、大翔さん。Daijōbu desu yo, Hiroto-san.It is okay, Hiroto.
- 大翔 Hiroto急に仕事が入ってしまって。Kyū ni shigoto ga haitte shimatte.Work suddenly came up unexpectedly.
- 美咲 Misaki全然気にしないでください。Zenzen ki ni shinai de kudasai.Please don't worry about it at all.
