Learn English – “I’m sorry to hear that” vs “I’m sorry for that” as a response

phrase-usage

My friend called me and told he that he failed in an exam.

In my language, we usually say:

I'm sorry to hear that.

while in English, I've noticed people mostly using:

I'm sorry for that.

My question is—

Is "I'm sorry to hear that" correct as a response in English as in my language?

Best Answer

Yes, it's idiomatic to use sorry to hear that in this sort of context. In fact, you could argue that it's more prevalent than saying sorry for that. Another common phrase is sorry about that.

You could also make the case that saying sorry for that indicates that you might be accepting some of the blame for the bad consequences, whereas saying sorry to hear that would only ever indicate that you are consoling someone.