Frases básicas de cortesía y ayuda en español

What does “con permiso” mean in Spanish?

English uses one “excuse me” for everything, but Spanish splits it. Con permiso (literally “with permission”) is what you say before you move through a space: squeezing past people on a bus, leaving the dinner table, or stepping between two people who are talking. It asks them to let you through. You can shorten it to just permiso. For bumping someone or saying sorry, you use perdón instead.

So the two are not the same. Con permiso comes before the action, to pass politely; perdón comes after, to apologize. In many Spanish-speaking places people say con permiso far more often than English speakers say “excuse me” when moving past others.