Phrases |
'Useful' phrases |
Idioms |
Tongue twisters |
Language-related proverbs
There are two main uses of this phrases: to ask for something/attract somebody's attention (marked 1 below), and to ask somebody to move out of the way so that you can get by (marked 2 below).
| Language | Excuse me |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Verskoon my! Jammer! |
| Albanian | Më fal! |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) | 1 (men fathlek(i))
من فضلك! 2 (alma'derah) المعذرة! |
| Arabic (Egyptian) | ('an iznak/iznik/izniku - m/f/pl) عن إزنك! |
| Arabic (Moroccan) | (smeh līya) اسمح لي! |
| Armenian (Eastern) | Ներողությո'ւն: (Nerogh.utyun) Կներե'ք: (Knerek’) |
| Asturian | Perdón! |
| Azerbaijani | Üzr istəyirəm / Bağışlayın |
| Belarusian | Даруйце (Daruytsye) Перапрашаю (Pyeraprashayu) |
| Breton | Digarezit ac'hanonon! Eskuzit ac'hanon! |
| Bulgarian | Извинете ме!
(Izvinete me) |
| Catalan | Dispensi! Perdoni! |
| Chamorro | Dispensa yu |
| Chipewyan | ʔarélá! |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 請問 (chéngmahn) 唔該 (m̀gòi) 失陪 (sàtpùih) |
| Chinese (Mandarin) | (1) 請問 [请问] qǐngwén (2) 對不起 [对不起] duìbùqǐ |
| Chinese (Taiwanese) | (1) 請問 (chhian2-mng7)
對不起 (tui3-put4-khi2) (2) 借過 (tsioh4-kue3) |
| Cornish | Gav dhymm!
|
| Croatian | Oprostite! Ispričavam se! |
| Czech | Promiňte!
|
| Danish | Undskyld mig! |
| Dutch | Neem me niet kwalijk |
| Esperanto | Pardonu! |
| Estonian | Vabandage! |
| Faroese | Orsaka meg! |
| Finnish | Anteeksi! |
| French | Excusez-moi ! Pardon ! Pardonnez-moi ! |
| Frisian (North) | Ferschånke! |
| Frisian (Saterfrisian) | Ferschoonenge! |
| Frisian (North) | Ferjaan! |
| Friulian | Us domandi perdon |
| Galician | ¡Perdoe! ¡Desculpe! |
| Georgian | ბოდიში (bodishi) |
| German | Entschuldigen Sie! Entschuldigung! Verzeihung! |
| Greek | Μὲ συγχωρεῖς!
(Me sinhorís) - inf Μὲ συγχωρεῖτε!
(Me sinhoríte) - frm
|
| Gullah | 'Scuze me! |
| Hawaiian | E kala mai iaʻu! |
| Haitian Creole | Eskize mwen! |
| Hebrew | בבקשה! (1), סליחה רגע! (2) |
| Hindi | क्षमा कीजिए! (kshama kījie) माफ़ कीजिये! (māf kījiye) ज़रा सुनिये! (zarā suniye) |
| Hungarian | Elnézést! |
| Icelandic | Afsakið! Fyrirgefðu! |
| Indonesian | Maafkan saya |
| Irish (Gaelic) | Gabh mo leiscéal! |
| Italian | Scusa! Scusami! (inf) Scusi! Mi scusi! (frm) |
| Japanese | すみません! (sumimasen) |
| Jèrriais | Extchûthez-mé, Pardonnez-mouai |
| Kannada | ಕ್ಷಮಿಸಿ! (kshamisi) |
| Kazakh | Кешіріңіз (Keşiriñiz) |
| Korean | 실례하겠습니다! (shillehagessumnida) |
| Ladino | Ekskuza! |
| Lao | ຂໍໂທດ (khãw thôht) |
| Limburgish | Verekskezeer! (inf) Verekskezeert! (frm) Perdóng! |
| Latvian | Atvainojiet! |
| Lithuanian | Atsiprašau! |
| Luxembourgish | Entschellegt? Pardon |
| Macedonian | Прocтeтe!
(Prostete) = Please forgive me / I'm sorry Извинете
(Izvinete) - to ask to get by
|
| Malay | Tumpang lalu / Maafkan saya |
| Maltese | Skużi! Skużani! |
| Manx | Gow my leshtal! Jean my leshtal! |
| Māori | Aroha mai! |
| Marshallese | Jolok bwir! |
| Mongolian | Өршөөгөөрэй (Örshöögöörei) |
| Norwegian | Unnskyld! Unnskyld meg! |
| Occitan | Perdon? Desencusa? Desencusatz? |
| Persian | (bebakhshid) ببخشید! |
| Polish | Przepraszam! |
| Portuguese | Por favor! Com licença! Desculpe! Perdão! |
| Quechua | Pampachay! |
| Romanian | Scuzaţi-mă! |
| Russian | Извините!
(Izvinite)
|
| Scots | Ho ye! |
| Scottish Gaelic | Gabh mo leisgeul!
|
| Serbian | Извините! (Izvinite!) Опросите! (Oprostite!) |
| Sesotho | Ntshwarele / Ntsoarele |
| Slovak | Prepáčte! |
| Slovenian | Oprostite (frm) Oprosti (inf) |
| Spanish | ¡Perdón! ¡Perdone! ¡Discúlpe! |
| Swahili | (1) Samahani nipishe (2) Samahani |
| Swedish | Ursäkta!
|
| Tagalog | Ipagpaumanhin ninyo ako! |
| Thai | (1) คุณครับ (khun khráp) - m /
คุณค่ะ (khun khâ) - f (2) ขอโทษ (khɔ̌ɔ thôot) |
| Turkish | (1) Pardon, geçebilirmiyim? (2) Pardon, bakarmısınız? |
| Ukrainian | Перепрошую! (Pereprošuju) |
| Urdu | (mā'zarat) معزرت! (māf kījiye) معاف کيجۓ! |
| Uyghur | Kechürüng! Кехүрүң! !كةچۈرۈڭ! |
| Uzbek | Uzr / Kechirasiz
|
| Vietnamese | Xin lỗi |
| Welsh | Esgusodwch fi!
|
| Wolof | Baal ma! |
| Xhosa | Uxolo! Ndixolele! |
| Yiddish | (Zayt moykhl) זײַט מוחל! (Zayt mir moykhl) זײַט מיר מוחל! |
| Zulu | Uxolo! |
If you would like to make any corrections or additions to this page, please
contact me. If you can provide audio recordings
of any of these phrases, please send them to
You can send me audio files in any format. If you don't know how to make recordings on a computer, you can send me recordings on audio cassette. Let me know if you want to do this and I'll send you my snailmail address. Or you can call me on Skype (omniglot) and I'll do the recording.
Welcome | Hello | How are you? | Long time no see | What's your name? | Where are you from? | Pleased to meet you | Good morning | Good afternoon | Good evening | Good night | Good bye | Good luck | Cheers/Good health | Have a nice day | Bon appetit | Bon voyage | I don't understand | Please say that again | Please speak more slowly | Can you please write it down? | Do you speak ...? | Excuse me | How much is this? | Sorry | Thank you | Where's the toilet? | This gentleman/lady will pay for everything | Would you like to dance with me? | I love you | Get well soon | How do you say ... in [your language]? | Leave me alone! | Help! | Call the police! | Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year | Happy Easter | Happy Birthday | Idioms | It's all Greek to me | It's raining cats and dogs | As easy as falling off a log | A sandwich short of a picnic | When pigs fly | 'Useful' phrases | My hovercraft is full of eels | Tongue twisters | Proverbs, quotations and sayings about language | One language is never enough | Stop the world, I want to get off! | Days of the week
Copyright 1998- Simon Ager