How to Say Excuse Me in Chinese

Chinese

不好意思

Pinyin

bù hǎo yì si

Sounds like

boo how ee suh

Read it piece by piece

不

bù

boo

English IPA /buː/

好

hǎo

how

English IPA /haʊ/

意

yì

English IPA /iː/

思

suh

English IPA /sə/

When to use 不好意思

Polite and conversational

Use it to get attention, squeeze past someone, or soften a request.
Use 对不起 instead when apologizing for a more serious mistake or harm.

Other ways to say it

请问

請問

qǐng wèn

Excuse me, may I ask...

Polite question opener

劳驾

勞駕

láo jià

Excuse me; may I trouble you

Polite, more common in northern speech

Example conversations

Excuse me, may I ask you a question?

不好意思，我可以问你一个问题吗？

不好意思，我可以問你一個問題嗎？

bù hǎo yì si, wǒ kě yǐ wèn nǐ yí ge wèn tí ma

Excuse me, please let me pass.

不好意思，请让我过去。

不好意思，請讓我過去。

bù hǎo yì si, qǐng ràng wǒ guò qù

Common mistakes

不好意思 is milder than a full apology and should not replace 对不起 in serious situations.

How to say excuse me in Chinese

When to use 不好意思

Other ways to say it

Example conversations

Common mistakes

Related Chinese phrases