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- "请问！"
"请问！"
Translation:Excuse me!
20 Comments
1025
This is not an appropriate sentence. "请问" is just a part of a question, similar to "I would like to ask". It is possible that someone would say it alone for catching the attention of another person, but that would mean there's a question to finish. By no means an exclamation mark could have been used here to end it like a phrase on its own. Abbreviation mark（……）should be used.
Don't use this as an equivalent of Excuse me. Say rather 不好意思.
Yes I agree, qing3 wen4 means, literally, please ask. In order for it to be correct, a question must be said after this.
- 75
Keith-- exactly! There's no context here so there's no way of knowing that this is not appropriate if you bump into someone. I'd probably translate it as "may I ask"
But it literally means "Not good wish to consider" so in other way, is the meaning is "not good to disturb u but wish to consider that" ?
The exclamation mark is fine as a punctuation choice for the attention-getting version of "excuse me" in English.
'Please may I ask' would be a more accurate translation. 'Please to ask' would be more literal.
Quite the opposite, I think. "Please ask" is an invitation to ask a question, but "请问" is a request for a permission to ask a question.
You could also use “Pardon”. Tried and it worked... (:P) I just guessed if it meant “Pardon” or not so if you get it wrong you can blame me.
Literally translated it says "please question". The closest translation equivalent in english would be: "May I ask you a question?"
Typically, the person asked will signal something to accept.
- 82
Not entirely accurate, "question" is "问题".
"问" alone means "to ask".
But of course you are right by saying that it means "May I ask you a question?"
"please go on" is more like "继续" while “请问” is more like "allow me to ask" if that makes any sense
