Anime Question about language/translations

[Nekova]

I was watching the first Rurouni Kenshin OVA (again), and noticed at the end that Katsura says "suma", and later what sounds like "sumarai" and it's translated as "I'm sorry." Is this another word for it? I've never heard anything other than 'gomen' and 'gomen nasai' used before.

If anyone who knows more Japanese than I do (which isn't hard) can clarify that, I'd be grateful :)

[Chikara Kokoro]

I think the word that Katsura was saying was 'sumimasen.' It has several different meanings ("Sorry", "Thank You" and "Excuse Me"), but this article ([URL=http://www.alientimes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.ABitOfJapaneseSumimasen]click![/URL]) can probably explain how the word is used better than I can.

[r2vq]

[quote name='Nekova']and later what sounds like "sumarai" and it's translated as "I'm sorry."[/quote][color=#007520]To possibly bridge Chikara Kokoro's answer about sumimasen and what you heard, "sumimasen" is in a formal tense. The plain form of this would be "sumanai" which may have been what you heard.

-r2[/color]

[Nekova]

perfect- thanks, both of you. When I recognize a word but can't figure out exactly what it means, it drives me craze :)