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不好意思,我要下车

How to say excuse me in Chinese

Name: ________________ Date: ________

中文里,“请问”“不好意思”“对不起”都很有用。什么时候说哪个呢?

你想问人问题,说“请问”:“请问,医院在哪儿?”

车上人很多,你要下车,说“不好意思”。

你做了不对的事,说“对不起”。

有一天,我坐地铁。车上人非常多。到了,我要下车,前边都是人。

我说:“请问!请问!”

前边的人都看我。一个先生问:“你想问什么?”

我说:“请问……我能下车吗?”

车上的人都笑了。那个先生说:“不是‘请问’,是‘不好意思’。”

我说:“不好意思,不好意思!”大家都让开了。

下车的时候,我踩了一个女士的脚。这次我知道说什么了!“对不起!”

她说:“没关系。”

下了车,我看了看手机。不对,这不是我要去的地方!

我回到车上。那个先生看见我,笑了:“请问,你要下车吗?”

Key words

WordPinyinMeaning
中文zhōngwénChinese (language)
请问qǐngwènexcuse me; may I ask
什么shénmewhat; anything
时候shíhoutime; moment; when
说shuōto speak; to say
哪个nǎgewhich; which one
问wènto ask
人rénperson; people
问题wèntíproblem; issue
医院yīyuànhospital
车chēcar; vehicle
上shàngup; above; on

English (for the teacher)

In Chinese, 请问, 不好意思 and 对不起 are all very useful. So when do you say which?

When you want to ask someone a question, say 请问: 'Excuse me, where is the hospital?'

When the train is packed and you need to get off, say 不好意思.

When you've done something wrong, say 对不起.

One day I took the subway. The car was packed. At my stop I needed to get off, but there were people all in front of me.

I said, '请问! 请问!'

Everyone in front of me looked at me. A man asked, 'What do you want to ask?'

I said, 'Excuse me... may I get off?'

Everyone in the car laughed. The man said, 'Not 请问 — 不好意思.'

I said, '不好意思, 不好意思!' And everyone moved out of the way.

As I got off, I stepped on a woman's foot. This time I knew what to say! '对不起!'

She said, 'That's all right.'

Off the train, I checked my phone. Wait, this wasn't where I was going!

I got back on. The man saw me and smiled: '请问, do you want to get off?'