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 (Egyptian) |
('an iznak/iznik/izniku - m/f/pl) عن إزنك! |
| Arabic (Modern Standard) |
to attract attention - (min faḍlak/ik)
من فضلك! to ask someone to move (al-ma'dirah) المعذرة! |
| Arabic (Moroccan) | (smeh līya) اسمح لي! |
| Armenian (Eastern) | Ներողությո'ւն: (Nerogh.utyun) Կներե'ք: (Knerek’) |
| Asturian | Perdón! |
| Azerbaijani | Üzr istəyirəm / Bağışlayın |
| Basque | Barkatu |
| Belarusian | Даруйце (Daruytsye) Перапрашаю (Pyeraprashayu) |
| Bengali | শুনুন। (shunun) এই যে। (ei je) |
| Bhojpuri | माफ करा (maf kara) |
| Breton | Digarezit ac'hanonon! Eskuzit ac'hanon! |
| Bulgarian | Извинете! (Izvinete) Извинете ме! (Izvinete me) Извинявам се! (Izvinjavam se) Пардон (Pardon) Прощавайте! (Proštavajte) Простете! (Prostete) Моля за извинение (Molja za izvinenie) |
| Catalan | Dispensi! Perdoni! |
| Chamorro | Dispensa yo' |
| Chipewyan | ʔarélá! |
| Chinese (Cantonese) | 請問 (chéngmahn) 唔該 (m̀hgòi) 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 / Neemt u mij niet kwalijk Excuseert u mij |
| 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 | Με συγχωρείτε!
(Me sinhorís) - inf Με συγχωρείς! (Me synhorís!) - frm |
| Gullah | 'Scuze me! |
| Gujarati | મફ કર્જો (māf karjo) |
| 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 |
| Inuktitut | ᐄᑯᓗ (Iikuluga) |
| Iñupiaq | Pisaraluarnak / Pisanritchikpin Pisaŋŋitkikpiñ / Tusaaŋŋisiqtuŋa |
| 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) |
| Latin | Me excusa (sg) Me excusate (pl) |
| Ladino | Ekskuza! |
| Lao | ຂໍໂທດ (khãw thôht) |
| Limburgish | Verekskezeer! (inf) Verekskezeert! (frm) Perdóng! |
| Latvian | Atvainojiet! |
| Lithuanian | Atsiprašau! |
| Luxembourgish | Entschëllegt? Pardon |
| Macedonian | Прocтeтe!
(Prostete) = Please forgive me / I'm sorry Извинете
(Izvinete) - to ask to get by
|
| Malay | Tumpang lalu / Maafkan saya |
| Malayalam | ക്ഷമിക്കനം (kshamikkanam) |
| Maltese | Skużi! Skużani! |
| Manx | Gow my leshtal! Jean my leshtal! |
| Māori | Aroha mai |
| Marshallese | Jolok bwir! |
| Mongolian | Өршөөгөөрэй (Örshöögöörei) |
| Nepali | माफ गनुस् (maapha ganus) |
| Norwegian | Unnskyld! Unnskyld meg! |
| Occitan | Perdon? Desencusa? Desencusatz? |
| Persian | (mazerat mikham) معذرت ميخوام (bebakhshid) ببخشيد! |
| Polish | Przepraszam! |
| Portuguese (Brazilian) | Por favor! Com licença! Desculpe! Perdão! Desculpa (inf) Escuse-me |
| Portuguese (European) | Com licença! Desculpe! Perdão! (frm) Desculpa (inf) |
| Quechua | Pampachay! |
| Romanian | Scuzaţi-mă! |
| Russian | Извините! (Izvinite) - frm, Извини! (Izvini) - inf |
| Scots | Ho ye! |
| Scottish Gaelic | Gabh mo leisgeul!
|
| Serbian | Извините! (Izvinite!) Опростите! (Oprostite!) |
| Sesotho | Ntshwarele / Ntsoarele |
| Shona | Pamusoro (sg) Pamusoroyi (pl) |
| Slovak | Prepáčte! |
| Slovenian | Oprostite (frm) Oprosti (inf) |
| Spanish | ¡Perdón! ¡Perdone! ¡Discúlpe! |
| Swahili | (1) Samahani nipishe (2) Samahani |
| Swedish | Ursäkta!
|
| Tagalog | Ipagpaumanhin ninyo ako! |
| Tamil | மன்னிக்கணும் (mannikkanum) |
| Telugu | క్షమించండి ! (kshamiṅchaṅdi!) |
| Thai | (1) คุณครับ (khun khráp) - m /
คุณค่ะ (khun khâ) - f (2) ขอโทษ (khɔ̌ɔ thôot) |
| Tongan | Tulou |
| Turkish | İzninizle / Pardon, geçebilir miyim? (to get past) Pardon, bakar mısınız? (to get attention) |
| Ukrainian | Перепрошую! (Pereprošuju) |
| Urdu | (mā'zarat) معزرت! (māf kījiye) معاف کيجۓ! |
| Uyghur | Kechürüng! Кехүрүң! !كةچۈرۈڭ! |
| Uzbek | Uzr / Kechirasiz
|
| Vietnamese | Xin lỗi |
| Welsh | Esgusodwch fi (frm) Esgusoda fi (inf) |
| Wolof | Baal ma! |
| Xhosa | Uxolo! Ndixolele! |
| Yiddish | (Zayt moykhl) זײַט מוחל! (Zayt mir moykhl) זײַט מיר מוחל! |
| Yorùbá | Ẹ ̣se fun mi / Ẹ jọwọ, ẹ gbọ mi |
| 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.
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Copyright 1998- Simon Ager