Learn how to ask the speaking party to say something again
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| Can You Say it Again in Mexican Spanish? |
| Usually Mexican people make an effort to speak English with foreigners. But sometimes, for various reasons, you may not catch all or any of the words they are saying. Either their English is not good enough or, if they are speaking to you in Spanish, their native speed might be a problem. When this happens, asking the speaker to say it again can make the difference between understanding a crucial piece of information, and spending the rest of the day trying to figure out what it was. The following phrase will not only give you a better sense of the language, but will also help you tune your ear! |
| In Spanish, "Could you repeat it, please?" is ¿Me lo podría repetir, por favor? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) ¿Me lo po-drí-a re-pe-tir, por fa-vor? |
| Once more: |
| ¿Me lo podría repetir, por favor? |
| The first word, Me, is translated as “to me” |
| (slow) Me. |
| Me. |
| Then we have lo, which literally means “it”. And it refers to whatever the person just said to you. |
| (slow) Lo. |
| Lo. |
| It’s followed by Podría, which means “could you.” |
| (slow) Po-drí-a. |
| Podría. |
| Next is repetir, which is a verb that means "to repeat." |
| (slow) Re-pe-tir. |
| Repetir. |
| After this comes an expression that we’ve mentioned before, meaning “please”: Por favor. |
| All together: |
| (slow) ¿Me lo po-drí-a re-pe-tir, por fa-vor? |
| ¿Me lo podría repetir, por favor? |
| You can also say “Say it again, please.”: Dígalo otra vez, por favor. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Dí-ga-lo o-tra vez, por fa-vor. |
| Once more: |
| Dígalo otra vez, por favor. |
| The first word, Dígalo, can be translated as “say it”. |
| (slow) Dí-ga-lo. |
| Dígalo. |
| Next we have otra, which means “other” or “another.” |
| (slow) O-tra. |
| Otra. |
| Then vez, which means "time." Together with otra, it means "one more time." |
| (slow) vez. |
| vez. |
| And at the end, we have the expression Por favor meaning “please”. |
| The whole sentence is: |
| (slow) Dí-ga-lo o-tra vez, por fa-vor. |
| Dígalo otra vez, por favor. |
| When the reason for not understanding is the speed, you may want to say “Can you speak slower, please”. In Spanish: Me puede hablar más despacio, por favor. |
| (slow) Me pu-e-de ha-blar más des-pa-cio, por fa-vor. |
| Me puede hablar más despacio, por favor. |
| First we have the word Me meaning “to me” again. |
| Then the word puede, which means “can you”. |
| (slow) Pu-e-de. |
| Puede. |
| Next we have the word, hablar, meaning “to talk.” |
| (slow) Ha-blar. |
| Hablar. |
| It’s followed by más, that means “more” |
| (slow) Más. |
| Más. |
| And despacio means “slow” or "slowly". |
| (slow) Des-pa-ci-o. |
| Despacio. |
| Finally we have Por favor. |
| Let’s hear the whole phrase one more time: |
| (slow) Me pu-e-de ha-blar más des-pa-cio, por fa-vor. |
| Me puede hablar más despacio, por favor. |
| To close out today's lessons, we’d like you to practice what you have just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so !buena suerte! which means “Good luck!” in Spanish. |
| “Could you repeat it, please.” (formal) |
| (3 sec) ¿Me lo podría repetir, por favor? |
| (slow) ¿Me lo po-drí-a re-pe-tir, por fa-vor? |
| ¿Me lo podría repetir, por favor? |
| “Say again, please.”(formal) |
| (3 sec) Dígalo otra vez, por favor. |
| (slow) Dí-ga-lo o-tra vez, por fa-vor. |
| Dígalo otra vez, por favor. |
| “Can you speak slower, please.” (formal) |
| (3 sec) Me puede hablar más despacio, por favor. |
| (slow) Me pu-e-de ha-blar más des-pa-cio, por fa-vor. |
| Me puede hablar más despacio, por favor. |
| Alright! That's going to do it for this lesson. Hasta luego. |
Comments
HideHello Listeners! How do you say "repeat" in Spanish?
Hola Shawn,
Thank you for your comment.
Yes, though the correct sentence is "Podria repetirlo por favor" 👍
Sigamos practicando!
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Would "Pedroia repetirlo por favor" be acceptable. I vacation in the Rivera Maya and I was told this would be closer to their native spanish there.
Hola Michelle,
No specific reason, they are just 3 different ways for asking someone to repeat what they said.
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Why is the first example phrase in the subjunctive, the second phrase in the imperative and the third phrase the present tense?
Hola Bill,
Thank you for your comment!
Our team will take in consideration your comment in order to improve future lessons.
Gracias por tu ayuda.
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
Ironic that "Me puede hablar mas despacio" is spoken so rapidly in this example.
Hola Gloria,
Very good!
But is "despacio"
Keep practicing!
Saludos,
Carla
Team SpanishPod101.com
A veces necesito decir, “Haga el favor de repetirlo más dispacio.”
At times I need to say, Please do the favor of repeating it slower.