INTRODUCTION |
In today’s lesson, we’ll introduce you to a phrase that will provide you with the tools to learn from the people around you. Now, bringing a dictionary is a great idea, but don’t forget that you can use Spanish to learn in a more fun and interactive way. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
In Spanish, "Can you say it again, please?" ¿Me lo puede repetir? |
¿Me lo puede repetir? |
Let's break it down by syllable: ¿Me lo pue-de re-pe-tir? |
And now, let's hear it once again, ¿Me lo puede repetir? |
The first word, me, means “to me.” |
me |
This is followed by lo, which in Spanish is “it.” |
lo |
Then we have puede, which means "you can." |
puede |
Let’s break it down by syllable: pue-de. |
One more time, puede. |
Finally, we have repetir, which means “to repeat.” |
repetir |
Let’s break it down by syllable: re-pe-tir. |
And one more time, repetir. |
So, all together, we have, ¿Me lo puede repetir? |
Literally, this means “Can you repeat it to me?” and is translated as “Can you say it again?” |
Another phrase you may need if you don’t really understand what someone is saying to you is, “Slowly, please.” |
In Spanish, “Slowly, please” is ¿Puede hablar más despacio? |
¿Puede hablar más despacio? |
Let’s break it down by syllable: ¿Pue-de ha-blar más des-pa-cio? |
And now, let’s hear it once again, ¿Puede hablar más despacio? |
The first word, puede,” means “you can.” |
Let’s break down this word and hear it one more time: pue-de |
And puede. |
This is followed by hablar, which in Spanish is “to speak.” |
hablar |
Let’s break it down by syllable: ha-blar |
And hablar. |
So, to recap here, we have ¿Puede hablar? |
Literally, this means “Can you speak?” |
Let’s take a look at the next word, más, which means “more.” |
más |
Finally, we have despacio, which means “slowly.” |
Let’s break it down by syllable: des-pa-cio. |
And once again, despacio. |
So all together, we have, ¿Pue-de ha-blar más des-pa-cio? |
Literally, this means “Can you speak slower?” |
There are certain phrases to communicate to your partner that you haven’t got what he or she has said. A very common one is by saying, ¿Perdón? |
¿Perdón? |
This means “Pardon?” |
And in this situation, it implicitly means “I didn’t understand it. Can you say it again?” |
Let’s break it down by syllable: ¿Per-dón? |
¿Perdón? |
Another way in which you can indicate you want your partner to repeat what was said is by saying, ¿Cómo? |
¿Cómo? |
This literally means “How?” |
Let’s break it down by syllable and hear it one more time: ¿Có-mo? |
And ¿Có-mo? |
While literally this only means “How?” the notion that you would like to hear what was said again is understood. |
Outro
|
Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so buena suerte, that means “good luck” in Spanish. |
Okay, here we go! |
"Can you say it again?" - ¿Me lo puede repetir? |
¿Me lo puede repetir? |
¿Me lo puede repetir? |
"Slowly, please?" - ¿Puede hablar más despacio? |
¿Puede hablar más despacio? |
¿Puede hablar más despacio? |
(Short form for, “Can you say it again?”) - ¿Perdón? |
¿Perdón? |
¿Perdón? |
(Another short form for, “Can you say it again?” - ¿Cómo? |
¿Cómo? |
¿Cómo? |
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