Expressing regret in French

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Expressing regret

Apart from sobbing deeply into your handkerchief, there are many ways of expressing regret.

• The verb regretter (to regret) is the simplest and most common:

Je regrette de ne pas avoir invité Victor. I regret not having invited Victor.
Nous regrettons ce qui vous est arrivé. We regret what happened to you.
Juliette a beaucoup regretté que Victor ne soit pas venu. Juliette greatly regretted that Victor did not come.

• The expression s’en vouloir ('to feel bad', 'to feel guilty', 'to blame oneself') has a similar meaning to regretter:

- Tu t’en veux d’avoir menti à Victor ? (= tu regrettes d’avoir menti à Victor ?) -Do you feel bad for having lied to Victor?
- Non, je ne m’en veux pas du tout. (= je ne regrette pas) -No, I don't feel bad at all.

• We can also use the conditionnel passé, the past conditional form:

J’aurais dû inviter Victor ! I should have invited Victor!
J’aurais aimé inviter Victor ! I would like to have invited Victor!
J’aurais mieux fait d’inviter Victor ! ( = Je regrette de ne pas avoir invité Victor.) I would have been better off inviting Victor!

• We can also use si + conditional constructions:

Si c’était à refaire, je ne le ferais pas. (Je regrette ce que j’ai fait.) If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't do it.
Si j’avais su, j’aurais invité Victor. (= Je regrette de ne pas avoir invité Victor.) If I had known, I would have invited Victor.

• We can also use the expression Quel dommage ! (What a shame!), or Quel dommage + DE + infinitive or Quel dommage + QUE + subjunctive.

Victor ne peut pas venir ? Quel dommage ! (= Je regrette que Victor ne puisse pas venir.) Victor can't come? What a shame!
Quel dommage d’avoir oublié d’inviter Victor. ( = Je regrette d'avoir oublié d'inviter Victor.) Too bad for forgetting to have invited Victor.
Quel dommage que Victor ne soit pas venu ! ( = Je regrette que Victor ne soit pas venu.) Isn't it sad that Victor didn't come!

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