צַר לִי לְאַכְזֵב

My father, who grew up in Israel, raised me speaking Hebrew in the US. Thanks to him, when I came to live in Israel as an adult, I was already equipped with conversational Hebrew. But since my education took place in the States, I was missing some higher-register expressions such as צר לי

– a fancier way of saying I’m sorry than simply אני מצטער

(or אני מצטערת

if the speaker is a female).

צר לי means literally it’s painful to me. צר

– the plural of which is צרות

(troubles, or in Yiddish, tzuris) – may be related to צער

meaning anguish, itself the root of מצטער

.

But enough theory – here’s צר לי in a common Hebrew expression: צר לי לאכזב

– I’m sorry to disappoint.

For example:

צר לי לאכזב, אבל הבירות לא קרות.

Sorry to disappoint, but the beers aren’t cold.

Here’s צר לי in another context:

צר לי על המקדש החרב.

I’m sorry about the destroyed Temple.

צר also means narrow.