I don't want to alarm you, but

and I don't want to upset you, but

an expression used to introduce bad or shocking news or gossip. Bill: I don't want to alarm you, but I see someone prowling around your car. Mary: Oh, goodness! I'll call the police! Bob: I don't want to upset you, but I have some bad news. Tom: Let me have it.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Dmitriy	DMEE-tree	Russian
Karna	-	Hinduism
Vera (1)	VYE-rah (Russian), VEER-ə (English), VER-ə (English)	Russian, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian
Parish	['pæriʃ]
Vilma	VEEL-mah (Finnish)	Spanish, Hungarian, German, Swedish, Finnish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian
Zaria	ZAHR-ee-ə	English (Modern)