对不起/對不起 duìbuqǐ — sorry; excuse me

Meanings

1. 1

   sorry; excuse me

   An apology for something you have actually done wrong. To open a question politely — the "excuse me" that gets someone’s attention — Chinese uses 请问 instead.

   verb

Character breakdown

• 不

  bù (fourth tone, falling)

  not, no — the general negative, placed before verbs and adjectives

  4 strokesRadical 一
• 起

  qǐ (third tone, dipping)

  to rise, to get up, to stand up; to begin; to raise; a measure word for cases or incidents

  10 strokes⿺走己Radical 走

Example sentences

• 对不起，我明天不能来。/對不起，我明天不能來。Duìbuqǐ, (fourth tone, falling) wǒ (third tone, dipping) míngtiān (second tone, rising) bù (fourth tone, falling) néng (second tone, rising) lái. (second tone, rising)···

  I’m sorry, I can’t come tomorrow.

• 对不起，这个字我不认识。/對不起，這個字我不認識。Duìbuqǐ, (fourth tone, falling) zhège (fourth tone, falling) zì (fourth tone, falling) wǒ (third tone, dipping) bú (second tone, rising) rènshi. (fourth tone, falling)···

  Sorry — I don’t know this character.

Common mistakes

• Not quite对不起，医院在哪儿？

  Correct请问，医院在哪儿？

  对不起 apologises; it does not flag a question. Stopping a stranger to ask something calls for 请问.

Similar words

Words containing 不

• 不bù (fourth tone, falling)not (negates verbs, adjectives and modal verbs)
• 不过/不過búguò (second tone, rising)but, however (a lighter contrast than 但是)
• 不但búdàn (second tone, rising)not only … (but also)
• 差不多chàbuduō (fourth tone, falling)about the same, close enough, not much different
• 不管bùguǎn (fourth tone, falling)no matter (what/how…), regardless of
• 不客气/不客氣bú (second tone, rising) kèqi (fourth tone, falling)you’re welcome, not at all

Words containing 起

• 起来/起來qǐlái (third tone, dipping)to get up, to stand up, to rise
• 一起yìqǐ (fourth tone, falling)together
• 引起yǐnqǐ (third tone, dipping)to give rise to, to cause, to trigger
• 起床qǐchuáng (third tone, dipping)to get up, to get out of bed
• 起飞/起飛qǐfēi (third tone, dipping)to take off (of an aircraft)