Sooooo

すみません — “Thank you”‚ “Excuse me”
A prime example that Japanese conceptualises certain things differently‚ すみません
can actually mean “thank you” and “excuse me” at the same time when used. While
meaning a simple “excuse me” if used when (for instance) bumping into someone in
the street‚ it is also used when someone does something for you that will indebt you
to them‚ such as catching your hat and handing it back if the wind catches it‚ or fixing
some typos in an email you had wri􀄴en. Using すみません in these instances means
both “thank you for doing this for me” as well as “I’m sorry to have caused you to do
this for me” at the same time.
This is technically the polite negative of 済む‚ “to end”‚ indicating that the debt
between the two parties involved remains unse􀄴led. Variations on the theme include
the more colloquial すいません and very informal すまない and すまん.
When being specific about what you are thanking apologetically for‚ すみません follows the description in て form.
手伝えってすみません
“Thank you for helping out‚ and sorry for somehow having made you do
so.”