How do you ask "May I come in?"

Question

If I am entering a class or the like, how do I ask for the permission to enter?

Answer 1

Hola Raúl,

You could say ¿Puedo entrar? or ¿Puedo pasar?.and If you want to sound a little bit more polite, you can add Perdón or Dispulpe at the beginnig of the question.

I hope this will help you

Miguel

Has dispulpe anything to do with octopodes? :-) - afowen, Jan 10, 2011

Answer 2

I've heard ¿'se puede...'?, not only for entering a room but for general questions which are finished with a gesture or a facial expression, eg wanting to look at something.

We can do the same in English, starting with 'may I..?' or 'can I....?' when the rest of the question can be mimed or assumed, I think particularly in the sort of situation when one could be interrupting an ongoing conversation etc.

That's an option people use a lot indeed. - lazarus1907, Jan 10, 2011

Answer 3

Hi Raul.

Try the translator (tab at the top of the page) for uncomplicated stuff.

In this case it gives ¿Puedo entrar? which sounds fine to me. I'm not sure if other phrases might be more common across the Spanish-speaking world...