Here you’ll learn how to say Sorry or Excuse Me in Mandarin Chinese. To say sorry you must pronounce three characters: Duì Bù Qǐ. Written in Chinese characters you get: 对不起.


The first character Duì (对) literally means right or correct. The second characte, Bù (不) means no and is used to make sentences negative. The third character Qǐ (起) menas to rise or get up. If you string all three characters together: Duì Bù Qǐ you get “Sorry”.

Watch this video over and over until you feel comfortable saying it. By the way, while we say “Sorry” quite often in Western culture you might not hear it so much in China or Asia. However, it’s still a good word to know when your traveling or living in Mandarin-speaking areas.

Also, in this video I’ve thrown in an added BONUS: You’ll learn how to say sorry in Taiwanese. It is very easy: Pai-Say. Just remember, “What did the pie say?” – and you’ll know how to say sorry in Taiwan.