Vietnamese phrase
How to say “Excuse me / Sorry” in Vietnamese
“Excuse me / Sorry” in Vietnamese is
Xin lỗi
Hear it in both accents
Vietnamese sounds noticeably different north to south. Both are recorded so you can match wherever you are.
Northern
Hanoi and the north
Southern
Saigon and the south
Used in a sentence
Xin lỗi, cho tôi hỏi đường đến bưu điện.
Excuse me, could you tell me the way to the post office?
Northern
Hanoi and the north
Southern
Saigon and the south
Worth knowing
Word by word: Xin (to ask/beg) + lỗi (fault/mistake)
North vs south: In the South, the 'ngã' tone in 'lỗi' is often pronounced similarly to the 'hỏi' (rising-falling) tone.
When you would use it
This line comes from the Expat Daily Life situation pack in XinChao (Legend) — the moments you actually run into in Việt Nam, not textbook drills.
See the survival packs