lamentar
verbCEFR B1
What does “lamentar” mean in English?
to regret, to be sorry about
to regret, to be sorry about (lamentar que + subjunctive — formal emotion trigger)
Example sentences
Lamentamos comunicarle que su solicitud no ha sido aprobada por falta de documentación completa.
We regret to inform you that your application has not been approved due to incomplete documentation.
Lamento mucho que hayas tenido una experiencia tan negativa con nuestro servicio de atención al cliente.
I'm very sorry that you had such a negative experience with our customer service.
Todos lamentamos que el concierto se cancelara tan a última hora sin previo aviso.
We all regret that the concert was cancelled so last-minute without prior notice.
How to use it
Lamentar means 'to regret' or 'to be sorry about' in a formal register. As an emotion trigger, it takes que + subjunctive when the subjects differ: 'Lamentamos que no puedas asistir'. When expressing regret about a past event, Spanish uses the present perfect subjunctive: 'Lamento que hayas tenido que esperar tanto'. Compare with sentir (que), which is more colloquial and interchangeable in meaning. The phrase 'lamentamos informarle que' is a fixed formal expression used in written correspondence to deliver bad news.
Common mistake
Lamentar uses present perfect subjunctive (haya/hayas + participio) to express regret about a recent or completed past event — learners often use the imperfect subjunctive here by mistake. Also: 'lamentamos informarle que' + indicative is a fixed phrase — the indicative here reports a fact, not a subjunctive-triggering subordinate.