안녕하세요!🌟
Ever found yourself in a bustling Korean market, with a tantalizing aroma of kimchi pancakes in the air, and you accidentally bump into someone while you’re mesmerized by the sights and sounds? Or perhaps, you just want to catch the attention of the ahjumma selling those delectable-looking street foods? In moments like these, knowing how to say “Excuse me” in Korean can be as essential as your love for BTS or BLACKPINK!
Prepare to dive deep into the polite world of Korean phrases. And trust us, by the end of this lesson, you won’t just be navigating Korean streets with ease; you’ll be shimmying through with style, grace, and impeccable manners!
Ready to make a splash in the K-Wave without making a faux pas? Let’s groove on! 🕺💃🎶
How to say “Excuse me” in Korean
Well….Don’t panic, it’s not that hard. But, there are a few different ways to say “Excuse me” in Korean depending on the situation. How am I going to remember all this you ask? Well don’t worry, I will explain the different ways in this article so that by the end of it you will be a PRO! Shall we get into it then?
Think about it this way, English “Excuse me” is not the same as Korean “Excuse me”. That is because those two are completely different languages as well as, the culture is very different. However, I think that is the beauty of it!
| Korean | Romanization | English |
| 실례합니다 | Shil-le-ham-ni-da | Excuse me |
| 잠깐만요 | Jam-ggan-man-yo | Excuse me/Wait a second |
| 잠시만요 | Jam-shi-man-yo | Excuse me/Wait a second |
| 저기요 | Jeo-gi-yo | Excuse me |
| 죄송합니다 | Jwoi-song-ham-ni-da | Excuse me/Sorry |
실례합니다
실례합니다 (sil-lye-ham-ni-da) is used in a situation where you want to ‘Excuse yourself’. 실례 actually translates to ‘bad manners’ or ‘discourtesy’ and therefore using this word can imply that your behaviour might be ‘disturbing’ or ‘intruding’ on someone. Remember that Korean culture is all about being respectful and thinking about other people and this is where this comes from. You can say it’s being overly cautions about being a nuisance to someone.
It is very formal way of saying “Excuse me” and so it can be used when passing through the crowd or when stopping a stranger on the street to either ask for directions or time.
잠시만요 and 잠깐만요
These two can be used interchangeably and can be used in few different situations. 잠시만요 (jam-si-man-yo) is a mixture of two words; 잠시 – while and 만 – only. We then add 요 at the end to make it formal. So if you are talking to a friend, you can drop the -요 and just say 잠시만. This literally then translates to “Wait a minute” or “Hold on a sec”.
잠깐만요 (jam-ggan-man-yo) is also a mixture of two words of which we already know 만. 잠깐 best translates to “moment” so 잠깐만요 has the nuance of “A moment please”. For the purpose of saying “Excuse me” these two can be used absolutely interchangeably, there is no difference whatsoever.
These will be used in a situations such as
- saying “Excuse me” when passing through a crowd
- when you are busy and want to ask the other person to wait
- when you want to ask for someone’s time (not what time it is!)
Let’s have a look at few examples for the other two.
Example 1
Danielle is working in a restaurant and while she is on the way to the bar to get a customer some more Soju (if you don’t know what Soju is you haven’t watched enough Kdrama so I would highly suggest you to go and watch one right now!), a customer she is passing by tells her they are ready to order. Since she is busy right now, she wants to let the customer know that she will be with them in a second. So she can either use “잠시만요” or “잠깐만요”.
Example 2
James is walking through the subway station to get the subway to Hongdae when he notices that the man walking in front of him has dropped a ticket. He picks it up and says “잠깐만요” or “잠시만요”. The guy walking in front of him hears him and turns around. (Obviously, he is not sure if someone is calling out to him, but that would be the same in English as well when you hear someone say “Excuse me”). James hands him the ticket and the man says “감사합니다” (Thank you in Korean) and walks away.
죄송합니다
죄송합니다 can be used as “sorry” or “excuse me” but never “I’m sorry to hear that”. For example, a friend has lost their phone and in English we say “Sorry to hear that”. You can’t say that in Korean as people will be confused as to why are you apologising if you haven’t done anything wrong.
So you can usually use 죄송합니다 in two different situations
- When apologising for something you have done wrong
- When passing thought the crowd it can be used as “Excuse me”
저기요
저기요 (jeo-gi-yo), literally means “hey you” or “over there!”
It can only be used when you want to get someone’s attention to tell them something or when you’d like to order something in the restaurant. Never when passing through the crowd. It’s basically calling out to someone with some purpose of having a conversation or wanting to order something. In the Example 2 mentioned above, 저기요 can also be used instead of 잠깐만요 or 잠시만요 but it would feel less polite.
Wrap up
Well, folks, we’ve danced our way through the bustling streets of Korean manners and come out the other side with some shiny new phrases under our belts! 🎶
From shimmying up to street vendors with a cheerful “저기요!” to making a graceful twirl in a packed subway while murmuring “죄송합니다”, you’re now equipped to navigate any Korean situation with style, grace, and of course, top-notch manners.
Remember: Every time you use one of these phrases, somewhere in Korea, a K-pop idol gets their wings… or at least, that’s what I like to imagine. 🤷♀️✨
As you continue your Korean journey, don’t forget these golden phrases. And should you ever find yourself caught in a crowd, or wanting to grab someone’s attention, you know the magic words to chant! And no, it’s not “Open Sesame”, but close enough!
Until our next linguistic rendezvous, keep those K-dramas rolling and practice spotting our “Excuse Me” champs in action. Stay curious, stay groovy, and as always, 화이팅 (Hwaiting) – which is K-speak for “You got this!” 🌟🕺🎉
P.S. If all else fails and you can’t remember the exact phrase, just dance like nobody’s watching. It may not help with the language, but it sure will make for a memorable moment! 😂🕺💃