Please, Thank You, Sorry and Excuse Me in Chinese

不好意思 bùhǎoyìsi can also be used to mean sorry for a mistake you may feel embarrassed about, or which has put the other person to trouble. It ... March155 comments LatestPosts WhatdoChinesepeopleeatforbreakfast? WhichisthebestseasontotravelinChina? WhatarethebenefitsoflearningChinese? TheBasicsofChineseCharacterWriting–InUnder12Minutes WhyIdecidedtolearnChinese Howdoyousay‘think’inChinese Followmeonsocial: AdvancedLearners Articles Beginner Chinesecharacterbites Intermediate Pronunciation ReadingMadeEasy Resources Songs Uncategorized
Please,ThankYou,SorryandExcuseMeinChinese By fluentinMarch15,2016 Share0 Tweet0 Share0 InthispostIwanttoexplainhowyousayplease,thankyou,sorryandexcusemeinChinese. Thesemayseemlikeverysimplewordsthatshouldhavesimpleequivalents,butthereareafewthingsyouneedtoknowabouthowtheyareused,anddifferentphrasestoknow. HowtosaythankyouinChinese Thankyouistheeasiestofthesephrasestolearn. Inmostsituations,youcanjustuse 谢谢xièxieor谢谢 xièxienǐ(the nǐmeans‘you) Thefirstsyllableispronouncedinthe4thtone,wherethepitchofyourvoiceshoulddropfromahightoalowlevel,andthesecondsyllableissimplyuttered,it’snotstressedatall. Chineselearnersoftengetthe‘X’soundinPinyinwrong,anditcanbedifficulttomaster. Thetipofyour tongueshouldbeatthefrontofyourmouthinthemiddle,inthemiddleofyourteeth.Thetopofyourtongueshouldbecurledoverandpartofitwillprobablybetouchingthetopofyourmouth.Keeppractisingituntilyougetitmoreaccurate–it’sdefinitelynot‘sheeahsheeah’or‘sheshe’,thexsoundismuchsofterthana‘sh’soundinEnglish. 非常感谢fēichánggǎnxièmeans‘thankyouverymuch’–it’smuchmoreformal,andabitoverthetopforeverydaycasualuse. Andthere’salso多谢duōxiè,whichmeans‘thanksalot’.The多means‘alot’and谢means‘tothank’. Ifyou’reinChinaoranotherChinesespeakingregion,it’sagoodideatopayattentiontowhenpeoplesaythankyou.Youmayfindthatitisnotsaidinsomesituationswhereyoumighthaveexpectedit,forexampleintheUKyouwouldoftenthankthebusdriverwhenyougetoffthebus,butinChinathisisnotcommon. HowtosaypleaseinChinese Thecharacterthatisoftentaughtandlistedindictionariesforpleaseis请 qǐng. Itliterallymeans‘request’or‘invite’,butiscommonlyusedatthebeginningofphrasestomean‘please.’ 请开门qǐngkāimén–pleaseopenthedoor 这边请zhèbiānqǐng–thisway,please 请 isalsousedonitsown.Forexample,ifyouhaveopenedthedoorand youwanttoinvitesomebodytogofirst,youcouldsay 请qǐng–yougofirst. Anotherwaytosaypleaseis麻烦你 máfannǐ–literally‘troubleyou’. Forexample: 麻烦你帮我开一下门 máfannǐbāngwǒkāiyīxiàmén Couldyouhelpmetoopenthedoor? Inalltheseexamplesyouwillseethatthe‘please’hascomeatthebeginningofthephraseinChinese.Youwouldn’tsay‘couldyouplease..’or‘CouldIplease..’,andthereisnoexacttranslatedequivalentfor‘yes,please’inChinese. HowtosaysorryinChinese Thereareafewdifferentphrasesthatareusedfor‘sorry’inChinese. 对不起duìbuqǐisacolloquialwaytosaysorryifyouhavemadeamistake.It’salsothewordthatismostcommonlyusedbychildren. Acommonresponsetothiswouldbe 没关系méiguānxi–itdoesn’tmatter(literally‘noconnection’). Amoreformalwayofsayingsorryis 抱歉bàoqiàn. 不好意思bùhǎoyìsicanalsobeusedtomeansorry foramistake
youmayfeelembarrassedabout,orwhichhasput theotherpersontotrouble.Itcanalsobeusedatthebeginningofaphrasetomean‘excuseme’,andit’sespeciallycommoninTaiwan. Howtosayexcuseme HowyousayexcusemeinChinesedependsonthesituation.Ijustmentioned 不好意思bùhǎoyìsi,butthereareothersaswell. Ifyouarestartingoffaconversationwithastrangeroraskingapasserbyoramemberofstaffforsomething,it’susefultostartwithanexcusemephrase,becausethepersonmaynotbelisteningtoyouatthebeginninganditmaytakethemasecondortwotofocusinonwhatyouaresaying,especiallyifyouaredistractingtheirattentionbybeingaforeignerspeakingChinese!🙂 Ifyouarewalkinguptosomebodyandinterruptingthem,youcansay 打扰一下dǎrǎoyīxià,whichliterallymeans‘interruptforamoment’. Ifyouhavetopushpastsomebody,forexampleonthesubwayoronthebus,youcansay 借过一下jièguòyīxià–literally‘borrowpassforamoment’. Ifyouwanttoaskaquestion,youcanstartoffbysaying 我想问一下wǒxiǎngwènyīxià
-literally‘Iwanttoaskforamoment’,andthenfollowitwithaquestion. Youcanalsouse请问qǐngwèn,whichistaughtinalotoftextbooksandmeans‘mayIask’or‘requesttoask’. Forexample: 请问天安门广场在哪里？ qǐngwèntiānānménguǎngchǎngzàinǎli? Excuseme,whereisTiananmenSquare? Itmayseemverycomplicatedtolearnseveral optionsforphraseslike‘sorry’or‘excuseme’,butifyoureallywanttomakesureyouareusingtherightturnofphraseattherighttimeandbeculturallysavvyaswellas‘knowingthewords’,thenit’sreallyimportanttoknowwhattosayinwhatsituation. Thisculturalawarenessispartoflearninganylanguage,andit’sespeciallyimportantwithChinese! Asalways,ifyouhaveanyquestions,please,leavemeacommentbelow. Share0 Tweet0 Share0 {"email":"Emailaddressinvalid","url":"Websiteaddressinvalid","required":"Requiredfieldmissing"}