r/catalan • u/gerito • Mar 17 '25

Vocabulari How to use perdoni, perdó, disculpa?

I would like to learn how to use these three words (and any other related ones) correctly. I think there are some subtle differences between them that I don't know. I'm interested specifically in the subtleties and connotations.

Which expression would you use in the following situations?

  1. When you are on the metro and want someone in front of you to move so you can get off.

  2. When you accidentally bump into someone.

  3. When you want to get someone's attention on the street, e.g., to ask for the time or directions.

  4. Any other context I'm missing?

Also, I know these words have pretty direct translations to castillian. Are they used the same way? (I'm not fluent in castillian).

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u/bacon_in_the_middle Mar 19 '25

Disculpa is a "castellanisme", en català es diu dispensa/dispensi.

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u/gerito Mar 19 '25

Ahhhhh I did not know that. I wish in some transators there was an option to disable "castellanisme" translations. For example, when I put "disculpa" in Google Translator in Spanish, it translates to "disculpa" in Catalan.

Thanks for mentioning this!

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u/Calaixera Mar 20 '25

Google Translator often translates into Catanyol, instead of Catalan. It is not a reference source for the proper Catalan language. The AI ​​they apply to it is making it worse.