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- "对不起!"
"对不起!"
Translation:Sorry!
24 Comments
1672
Please break down meaning of each character!! I didn't understood it's meaning
Thank you in advance
From the Han trainer online, for the separate characters I get the following:
对 (dùi) = correct, versus, facing, for, to oppose, pair, as regards of, right 不 (bù) = not, no, negative 起 (qĭ) = to raise, to rise, from, start, to establish, to appear, to get up, to set up, beginning
And while you should probably be careful in attributing meaning to character combinations simply based on the meaning of all the separate characters, it can be helpful sometimes. Like here, with a little imagination you could use this as a mnemonic for something like "Ow, don't start (to thank me)"
578
对 (duì) = to face
不 (bù) = not
起 (qǐ) = to be able to
对不起 (duì bù qǐ) = I'm not able to face it = sorry
2317
Yeah I think you have to try and leave that mindset behind when interpreting Chinese, because the tones could be deceptive in that regard.
Posted in a reply but this link is a useful breakdown of meaning by character - https://www.thoughtco.com/dui-bu-qi-saying-sorry-2278549