عفوا على التأخير
“عفوا على التأخير” (афван аля ат-таʾхиир) — sorry for being late in Arabic. Phrase, level A2. Literally "an excuse for the lateness": taʾkhiir is that very flight delay. The latecomer’s apology opens with it, and then comes the reason. In a live sentence: “عفوا على التأخير, الحافلة تأخرت” — Sorry for being late, the bus was late. Written with the characters ع, ف, و, ا, ع, ل, ى, ا, ل, ت, أ, خ… A word from the everyday Arabic course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Arabic | عفوا على التأخير |
| Read in Latin letters | афван аля ат-таʾхиир |
| Translation | sorry for being late |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
Literally "an excuse for the lateness": taʾkhiir is that very flight delay. The latecomer’s apology opens with it, and then comes the reason
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- عفوا على التأخير, الحافلة تأخرتафван аля ат-таʾхиир, аль-хаафила таʾаххаратSorry for being late, the bus was late
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “sorry for being late” in Arabic?
«عفوا على التأخير», read “афван аля ат-таʾхиир”. In a live sentence: “عفوا على التأخير, الحافلة تأخرت” — Sorry for being late, the bus was late. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters ع, ف, و, ا, ع, ل, ى, ا, ل, ت, أ, خ…
How is “عفوا على التأخير” written in Latin letters?
афван аля ат-таʾхиир. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally "an excuse for the lateness": taʾkhiir is that very flight delay. The latecomer’s apology opens with it, and then comes the reason. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.