Excuse Me/I'm Sorry 不好意思 | Learn Chinese with Yoyo Mo

不好意思。Bù hǎo yì si.

Excuse me. / I'm sorry.

这个词是以前我的一个英国朋友感到困惑的。Zhè gè cí shì yǐ qián wǒ de yī gè Yīng guó péng yǒu gǎn dào kùn huò de.

This word used to puzzle one of my British friends before.

“不好意思” 比 “对不起” 的程度要低一些。“Bù hǎo yì si” bǐ “duì bù qǐ” de chéng dù yào dī yī xiē.

The degree of "Excuse me" is a bit lower than that of "I'm sorry".

我举两个例子。Wǒ jǔ liǎng gè lì zi.

I'll give some examples.

当我们不小心碰到了别人，可以说 “不好意思”。Dāng wǒ men bù xiǎo xīn pèng dào le bié rén, kě yǐ shuō “bù hǎo yì si”.

When we accidentally bump into others, we can say "Excuse me".

当我们踩了别人脚，更应该说 “对不起”。Dāng wǒ men cǎi le bié rén jiǎo, gèng yīng gāi shuō “duì bù qǐ”.

When we step on others' foot, we should say "I'm sorry" instead.

当我们想请别人让一下路，可以说 “不好意思，借过一下”。Dāng wǒ men xiǎng qǐng bié rén ràng yī xià, kě yǐ shuō “bù hǎo yì si, jiè guò yī xià”. (

When we want to ask others to make way, we can say "Excuse me".