German

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Alternative forms

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  • leid tun (pre-1996)
  • Leid tun (1996–2006; still common in not professionally edited texts)

Etymology

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leid +‎ tun.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈlaɪ̯ttuːn]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: leid‧tun

Verb

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leidtun (irregular, third-person singular present tut leid, past tense tat leid, past participle leidgetan, past subjunctive täte leid, auxiliary haben)

  1. to regret, to be sorry (with the cause of the regret as the subject and the person feeling regret as the indirect object)
    Es tut mir leid.I’m sorry.
    Das tut mir leid.I’m sorry for that.
    Du tust mir leid.I feel sorry for you.

Usage notes

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  • The spelling leidtun has been an optional spelling since the German spelling reform of 1996 (the Rechtschreibreform) as of 2004.
  • The spelling leidtun has been the prescribed spelling since the German spelling reform of 1996 (the Rechtschreibreform) as of 2006. In the affected areas, the previous spelling (pre-1996: leid tun, 1996–2006: Leid tun) is now less common, and may be regarded as a misspelling.
  • The reformed spelling rules since 2006 only have leidtun but wehtun and weh tun.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Further reading

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  • leidtun” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • leidtun” in Duden online