Excuse me.
Use to get attention or apologise.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 4 · JAPANESE
Japanese: A little politeness
Make a polite request and respond to thanks.
Polite · everyday expressions. Learn the meaning, listen to the pronunciation, then practise in the interactive lesson.
Practise this lessonOpening vocabulary referenceUseful Japanese phrases and their meanings
Please.
A useful polite ending when requesting something.
You are welcome.
A response to thank you.
It is all right.
Here it reassures the other person; in an offer it can also mean no thank you.
How the sentence works
すみません can get attention, apologise or acknowledge trouble. お願いします makes a request polite. どういたしまして replies to thanks; いえいえ is also common in everyday conversation. 大丈夫です means it is all right, depending on context.
A short conversation in Japanese
Excuse me.
Yes?
Thank you.
You are welcome.
Words to recognise
excuse me
all right
yes
no
Listen to the whole phrase before focusing on each word. You can replay as often as you like, and the interactive lesson uses pictures and a short exchange to put the meaning in context.
Open the interactive lessonThe opening six teaching lessons are free, including the mini-tests after lessons three and six. A test accepts any answer and shows the score and corrections at the end. No typing or speaking aloud is required.
Keep learning Japanese
Free five-minute audio lesson and MP3 · Language learning games
The pronunciation uses prepared synthetic voices. Credits and licences explain the free voice models. Independent native-speaker certification is not claimed.