赔不是

賠不是
péibúshi
verb #37,609

Meanings

  1. 1 to apologize
  2. 2 to say sorry
  3. 3 to make amends

Examples

Tā zhǔdòng xiàng wǒ péibúshi.
He took the initiative to apologize to me.
Nǐ zuò cuò le shì jiù gāi péibúshi.
If you did something wrong, you should apologize.

Tips

register
赔不是 is colloquial and a bit old-fashioned, common in Beijing speech and northern dialects. The neutral, all-purpose word for 'apologize' is 道歉 (dàoqiàn). 不是 here is pronounced toneless (bú shi) and means 'fault/wrong' — literally 'to compensate (for) one's fault'.

Stroke Order

péi
shì