Can ごめん, like English 'sorry,' be used to express condolences?


The literal meaning of ごめん is, I know, approximately "forgiveness" in English.
However, the vast majority of its usage (that I've seen) is more accurately
translated as "I'm sorry," or "please forgive me."  
While I am aware of its literal usage and thus am pretty sure I already know
the answer to this question, I wanted to ask to be certain: as 'sorry' can be
used in English to express condolences as opposed to ask for forgiveness, can
Japanese ごめん be used in the same way? For example, if one were to say in
English "My house was broken into last night," "I'm sorry," would be
considered a reasonable and appropriate response. "I'm sorry" in this case
does not imply the speaker is responsible for the crime or feels guilt over
it, simply that they regret the circumstances of the person to whom they are
speaking. Thus, if someone were to say in Japanese "昨夜家に泥棒がはいった。" would
"ごめんね。" be considered an appropriate response?




This question is very close to being a duplicate of [the one that Chocolate
posted in the
comments](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/53037/how-to-express-
being-sorry-as-a-sympathetic-feeling), but that question is written by someone
who already knows the answer to the specific question you are posing here.

> I wanted to ask to be certain: as 'sorry' can be used in English to express
> condolences as opposed to ask for forgiveness, can Japanese ごめん be used in
> the same way?

No, it cannot. As a native English speaker I still have to stop myself from
using it that way anyway despite knowing better, but ごめん along with other
apologies (すまない、申し訳ない, etc.) simply don't take on that meaning in Japanese.
Additionally, if you try and stick ごめん in places it clearly doesn't belong you
may end up conveying something entirely different, as it's also used to
[describe situations you find highly undesirable or are sick
of](https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E3%81%94%E3%82%81%E3%82%93%E3%81%A0).

Appropriate ways to express this type of sympathy are covered
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/53049/7705), in the answers to the
question Chocolate linked to.

