So I’ve been studying Japanese for a little over 2 years at a rather slow pace and have been watching One piece for a little over that. After a while I started to notice that many characters use “すまん”. I was wondering if anyone could let me know why they use すまん instead of the more regular すみません?
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すまない is the “plain” form of すみません, and すまん is a contracted form of that. So, very casual/”rough”/”macho” speech. (both are conjugated forms of 済む/すむ) But tbh i haven’t heard it that often. Sometimes words you see in manga are old-fashioned or more casual than you would normally encounter in everyday life, and it’s hard to say.
A slightly casual but still polite form that i hear often is すいません. Might be a Tokyo thing? idk I’m kinda ignorant of how people talk elsewhere.
the verb is 済む
the negative masu form is 済みません
the negative casual is 済まない, which you also hear
済まん is just the slightly slurred contraction
you also hear “いかん！” instead of or in addition to “いかない！” for “oh no!”
すまん is colloquial and men use this expression.
すまん is used to express a mild apology or gratitude. It is too polite to use in close relationships, like between friends. I don’t think you should use it much for your family, especially your mother: should say ごめん or ごめんなさい. I never use すまん to even my younger brother. And it sounds so casual in formal settings.
Degree of politeness: すまん<ごめん<すみません≦ごめんなさい<申し訳ありません<申し訳ございません<大変申し訳ございません
Op, I can’t help with this but was wondering, tangentially, if you could explain why my neighbour says ‘Scuse me rather than “the more regular” excuse me? WHY IS THAT? WHAT GIVES??
The mad man also says “see ya” rather than “good bye!”
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE???!!!!