How to say "excuse me/i'm sorry (formal)" in Japanese?

In Japanese "excuse me/i'm sorry (formal)" translates to  すみません 

Transliteration: sumimasen

🇯🇵 すみません、お手洗いはどこですか?

🗣️ Sumimasen, otearai wa doko desu ka?

🇺🇸 Excuse me, where is the restroom?

🇯🇵 失礼します、お先に失礼いたします。

🗣️ Shitsurei shimasu, osaki ni shitsurei itashimasu.

🇺🇸 Excuse me, I will take my leave first.



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🇯🇵

Japanese

Native speakers
128M 🗣️
Official language in
Japan 🌍
Active vocabulary
10k-20k 📚
Difficulty
difficult 🤔
Closest langauges
None among major
⏳ Avg. time to basics
1100-1300 hours ⏳

Why learn Japanese?

Learning Japanese offers significant advantages in sectors like technology, automotive, and finance, as Japan is the world's third-largest economy. It also provides a gateway to understanding a rich, millennia-old culture. English speakers typically need to know around 2,000 Kanji characters and additional Kana for basic literacy. Achieving general proficiency often requires 1,300-2,200 hours of study, partly due to three writing systems: Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana. Key grammatical concepts include particles like 'wa' and 'ga' to mark subject and topic, and verb forms that express tense and politeness level. Mastery allows for nuanced communication and deeper cultural understanding, both in business and social contexts.



Frequently Asked Questions

How to say "excuse me/i'm sorry (formal)" in Japanese?

You can use the word "すみません" which translates to "Excuse me/I'm sorry (formal)".

How to pronounce "すみません" (excuse me/i'm sorry (formal)) in Japanese?

The word "すみません" is pronounced as "sumimasen".

Do you have an audio recording on how to pronounce" すみません" (excuse me/i'm sorry (formal)) in Japanese?

Not yet, but this functionality is coming soon. We're focusing on the quality of the written content first.