I heard someone telling "I beg your pardon."
What does it mean? Can I say it when asking somebody to repeat what she just said?
Learn English – When and how to use “I beg your pardon”
phrase-usage
phrase-usage
I heard someone telling "I beg your pardon."
What does it mean? Can I say it when asking somebody to repeat what she just said?
Best Answer
Pardon (as noun) means "the action of forgiving somebody for something"; beg means "to ask somebody for something especially in an anxious way because you want or need it very much."
An equivalent sentence would be "I ask you to forgive me." even if this would not imply any anxious way.
If you just want to ask somebody to repeat something, you say "Pardon?" since pardon (as exclamation) means "used to ask somebody to repeat something because you did not hear it or did not understand it."