Welcome to our guide on how to say “wait” in Burmese! Whether you’re planning a trip to Myanmar or simply interested in learning the language, knowing how to express this common word can be quite helpful in various situations. In this guide, we’ll explore both the formal and informal ways to say “wait” in Burmese, and provide you with tips, examples, and regional variations if necessary.
Table of Contents
Formal Ways to Say “Wait” in Burmese
When it comes to formal situations, you might want to use more polite expressions. Here are a few ways to say “wait” formally in Burmese:
1. စောင့်ပါးပေး (saung ba pye)
This is a polite and common phrase for “wait” in Burmese. It is suitable for formal settings, such as addressing someone older or in a professional context.
စောင့်ပါးပေး၍ ခေါ်ကလေးကို ပြုလုပ်ရပါမည်။
(saung ba pye: khauk lay ko pyu lu)
Can you please wait for a moment?
2. စောင့်ရေး (saung ye)
Similarly, စောင့်ရေး is another formal and polite way to say “wait” in Burmese.
စောင့်ရေးပြီးသောအချိန်ကို သိမ်းမိမ်းပါ။
(saung ye pri thi a chine thay ma mai ba)
Please wait for a short while.
Informal Ways to Say “Wait” in Burmese
In casual or informal situations, people often use simpler expressions to convey the concept of “wait” in Burmese. Here are a couple of informal phrases you can use:
1. ဘာတနှ်ဖြိုး (ba than pyo)
This is a commonly used informal phrase meaning “wait.” It is suitable among friends, peers, or when speaking to someone younger.
ဘာတနှ်ဖြိုးပြီး ဖက်မှာ ရှိနေပါသလား။
(ba than pyo pri: hkit ma har ne par tha lar)
Hold on a moment, is it here?
2. ကျနော် (ka nau)
Another informal and colloquial way to say “wait” is by using the word ကျနော်.
ကျနော်စောင့်နေရပါမယ်။
(ka nau saung ne pya mar)
Wait for me, please.
Tips and Examples
Here are a few additional tips and examples to help you use the word “wait” correctly in Burmese:
1. Non-Verbal Cues
In Burmese culture, non-verbal cues can also indicate that you need someone to wait. For example, raising your hand slightly or gesturing with your palm facing downwards can convey the message effectively.
2. Adding Polite Particles
To make your request even more polite, you can add polite particles like “ဟုတ်ကဲ့” (hote ga) or “မှား” (ma) at the end of the sentence. These particles make your request sound more respectful.
3. Use the Person’s Name
When addressing someone directly, using their name followed by the word “ဟု” (ho) can make your request more personal and polite.
ဘီးဘီး၊ ဟိုမရေးလုပ်ဖို့ စောင့်ပါးပေးမှာလား။
(bi bi, ho ma ye lu pyo)
Bi Bi, can you wait for a moment, please?
Conclusion
Congratulations! You have now learned various ways to say “wait” in Burmese. Remember to adapt your choice depending on the formality of the situation you find yourself in. Whether you opt for the formal expressions like စောင့်ပါးပေး (saung ba pye) or the informal ones like ဘာတနှ်ဖြိုး (ba than pyo), you’ll surely impress native speakers with your linguistic skills! Keep practicing, and enjoy your journey in discovering the beauty of the Burmese language.
