STOP saying WHAT Advanced English Lesson
Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.
I was thinking about going, but I don’t know.
What do you think?
What?
Let’s talk about it.
When you’re learning English and hey, sometimes
as a native English speaker, there will be
times when you won’t understand what someone
else says and you’ll want them to repeat themselves.
But it’s rude to say, “Huh?
What?”
So in today’s lesson, you’re going to learn
some wonderful alternatives when you want
someone to repeat themselves so that you can
accurately understand what they’re saying.
To help you with this lesson, I’ve created
a free PDF worksheet so that you will never
forget what you’ve learned.
Plus, you can answer Vanessa’s challenge question
at the end of the PDF.
You can download it with the link in the description.
All right, let’s get started with eight casual
phrases for when you want someone to repeat
themselves, but you don’t want to say, huh?
What?
Let’s start.
Phrase number one is, sorry?
Oh, this is so polite, and it is a great one
word alternative instead of saying, what?
When you say, sorry, this is extremely kind.
And it just means, hey, I didn’t understand
what you said.
Maybe the environment is too noisy.
Maybe there’s a rooster crowing in the background,
or maybe you just didn’t get a word that they
said, or the topic was too complicated.
Great.
What can you say?
Sorry?
And you’ll notice that we say the word sorry
in front of a lot of the next expressions
too.
Let’s go to number two.
Sorry, what’d you say?
Oh, this is excellent, especially if you weren’t
paying attention completely.
Maybe you were working on something.
You were looking at your phone.
You were just off in Lalaland.
You can use this great expression.
Sorry, what’d you say?
Sorry, can you say that again?
I often use this phrase when my husband is
trying to tell me something, but I’m playing
with my two kids and we’re being loud together,
or maybe they’re being loud, and I just didn’t
hear what he said.
Maybe I could have said, huh?
What?
But that’s not very polite.
Instead, I can say, and I often do, sorry,
can you say that again?
Excellent.
What was that?
Oh, what was that is a great question to ask
when you just didn’t catch what someone was
saying.
Maybe it’s a little bit surprising, some kind
of information.
They’re talking, they’re talking, and then
they say, “Oh yeah, and then I’m getting married
next weekend.”
What was that?
Oh, you want them to repeat themselves, but
you want to ask them in a nice way.
Excellent phrase.
The next three phrases are used in extremely
casual situations, so I don’t recommend using
these at work.
You can use them with friends, with family
you feel comfortable with, and they’re often
used regionally in the US.
The first one is, come again?
When you ask someone, come again, it’s because
you maybe didn’t hear them.
But more likely you heard them correctly,
but you were kind of surprised by what they
said, so you want them to repeat it.
You can say, “Okay.
Yeah, you did say that.”
Let me give you a quick example.
If you’re talking with your good friend and
then your good friend mentions, “Oh yeah,
I’m moving to Japan next week.”
Come again?
This is shocking information.
You had no idea that your friend was going
to move to Japan.
So you want her to repeat herself, and you
can use this great phrase, come again?
You’re not moving to Japan.
No, you can’t move to Japan.
Stay with me.
It’s a great phrase to use.
A similar phrase that’s also casual is, how’s
that?
We often use this in the similar situations
when we either don’t understand, or we want
someone to repeat themselves for clarity.
You might ask, how’s that?
And to make it even more casual, you can say,
do what?
This is something that I use often.
I’m not sure why.
Maybe it’s something that’s common in the
South of the US where I live, but it’s when
you want someone to repeat themselves.
But I use it when someone says something that
I’m surprised by.
You’re moving to Japan?
Do what?
It doesn’t mean that they’re doing something,
but it just means that you’re surprised by
what they said.
Along with, do what, we have, say what?
It just means they said something that you
want them to repeat.
Maybe you didn’t understand, or maybe it was
a little surprising and you might answer with,
say what?
No, you can’t move to Japan.
Don’t move to Japan.
Say what?
The last casual phrase is, sorry, one more
time?
I use this phrase if I’m in a noisy restaurant
and I’ve already asked someone to repeat themselves
a couple of times, or maybe I just wasn’t
paying attention and I feel a little bit bad
that I’m asking them again to repeat themselves.
So if you’ve already said, sorry, can you
say that again?
Sorry, I didn’t hear you?
Sorry, one more time?
This is like your final request.
Sorry, one more time?
Very nice.
All right.
Let’s go to some professional expressions
that you can use instead of, huh, what, when
you want someone to repeat themselves.
Sorry, I didn’t catch what you said.
Sorry, I didn’t catch what you said.
This verb, to catch, means that we can imagine
a word is running away and you can’t catch
it.
You can’t understand it.
We often use that word catch when we’re talking
about conversations and maybe missing a word
or missing a phrase.
This is a great question that you can use.
Sorry, I didn’t catch what you said.
Can you repeat that, please?
Excellent.
Can you run that by me again?
Can you run that by me again?
We often use this if someone said something
long or confusing.
Maybe you’re talking about a technical concept
in your business and it’s just long and confusing.
There’s lots of parts.
Well, you could say, can you run that by me
again?
I want to make sure I understood everything.
Can you run that by me again?
Could you rephrase that for me?
Could you rephrase that for me?
The word rephrase means that you’re saying
the same thing, but with different words.
And this is excellent, especially for English
learners.
But hey, really for everyone.
Because sometimes the way that someone explains
something is confusing, or maybe they use
a word that you just don’t know yet, or it’s
something that you’re not familiar with.
Great.
How can you understand it?
You need to have that rephrased for you.
So you can use this question, can you rephrase
that for me please?
Excellent.
When you say, do you mean?
This is a great question to make sure you
actually understood exactly what they’re talking
about.
You can use this in general situations, but
it’s great to use in professional situations
if there’s some kind of lingo that’s specific
to your field and maybe you’re not completely
familiar with it.
So if someone uses a word, when you say that
technical word, do you mean?
And you can explain it a little bit more.
You can rephrase it and they’ll say, “Oh yeah,
that’s what I mean,” or they might say, “Oh
no, I meant this.”
And it’s a great way to kind of check for
clarity.
You can even use this in daily life.
If your friend says, “Hey, let’s meet up at
the park,” you could say, “When you say park,
do you mean Central Park?”
If you’re in New York City, there’s a lot
of parks, so you need to check for clarity.
You could ask, “When you say park, do you
mean Central Park?”
And they might say, “Oh no, I meant this other
park.”
Great.
Well, now you know what they’re saying?
Could you be more specific, please?
Great.
This is often used in a professional situation
if someone’s giving a lot of hypothetical
ideas and you need to know how this will apply
to the company, how this will apply to your
specific situation.
So great.
You can ask, can you be more specific, please?
Another common professional word is, can you
elaborate on that?
Elaborate, wonderful word, and this means
to give more details.
Instead of just saying a couple simple things,
I need to know exactly how this will fit into
our company or into the situation we’re talking
about.
Can you elaborate on that?
Oh, lovely.
I’m sorry, can you repeat that?
Oh, when you say the full phrase, I’m sorry,
it just kind of levels up the politeness.
You can say, sorry, can you repeat that?
That’s no problem.
But if you want to kind of level up the politeness,
you can say, I’m sorry, can you repeat that?
And it means you really care what the other
person has to say, and you want to know what
they’re saying, so you’re asking them to repeat
themselves.
Do not feel bad asking this question.
It is excellent and important, and it shows
the other person, I really care.
I’m sorry, can you repeat that please?
Let’s say someone says something a little
confusing, a little long, maybe something
that you’re not exactly clear about, but you
don’t want to ask them to repeat themselves.
Well, you can check your understanding by
saying this phrase, let me make sure I understand
this right.
You’re going to rephrase what they said with
your own understanding.
Let me make sure I understand this right.
You’re going to call the marketing department
tomorrow and then get in touch with the client.
You’re going to rephrase what they just told
you, and you’re not asking them to repeat
themselves.
It’s just another alternative instead of making
them repeat.
Our final professional phrase before we talk
about two that you need to be very careful
with is, just to clarify.
This is similar to our previous expression
where you’re going to be the one rephrasing
what they said.
You want to check that you understood everything
correctly, and maybe there are some parts
that you didn’t get completely.
You can use this phrase, just to clarify,
you’re calling the marketing department, not
me, right?
You want to make sure that the action that
you heard is what’s actually going to happen.
Warning!
Warning!
Warning!
Be very careful.
The next two phrases that I’m going to share
with you are commonly used, but they have
two distinct differences.
One can be used in a polite way, and one can
be extremely rude.
So make sure that you listen carefully to
the differences between how you say these
expressions.
The first one is, I beg your pardon?
Oh, okay.
This is kind of old fashioned English, but
people definitely still use this in daily
life if it is with a positive tone.
No negativity in your face.
No negativity in your voice.
Someone says something quickly and you just
didn’t catch it and you say, I beg your pardon?
Okay.
In a professional situation like that, very
neutrally.
It’s okay.
But sometimes this phrase can be extremely
rude.
If someone says, “Oh yeah, I ate the last
piece of cake.”
You could say, “I beg your pardon?”
Oh, do you see my face?
Watch again.
I beg your pardon?
You’re not trying to be polite really.
You’re trying to express shock.
What?
What did you say?
You ate the last piece of cake?
But I want the last piece of cake.
Could you have at least shared it with me?
I beg your pardon?
Oh, so you want them to repeat themselves,
but you’re kind of angry about the situation.
So make sure if you use this expression, use
it with the right tone, in neutral tone, or
this angry tone if you want to convey that.
And if someone says it to you, now hopefully
you can pick up which tone they’re using so
that you can understand their real meaning.
The final phrase, one that you need to be
very careful using is a simple one, excuse
me?
Okay.
So same as our previous expression, there’s
two distinct tones that you can use when you
use this phrase.
The first is very neutral.
If someone says something that you just didn’t
catch, it was too fast, maybe it’s a noisy
environment, you can say, “Excuse me?
Excuse me?”
Okay, this is a little more neutral, and you’re
just asking them to repeat themselves.
But it is very easy to say this in the wrong
way.
Because we often use this when we’re a little
bit angry, shocked, and you want someone to
repeat what they said, but only because you
feel lots of negative emotion building.
So you might say, “Excuse me?
Excuse me?”
When someone tells you, “I ate the last piece
of cake.
Sorry,” you can say, “Excuse me?
You eat the last piece of cake?
Uh, that was my birthday cake.
Excuse me?”
Do you see how there is a tone of anger, of
frustration and annoyance in my voice when
I say it?
So in my opinion, I think it’s better to use
one of the other phrases that we just talked
about if you want someone to simply repeat
themselves.
But I want to make sure that you are empowered
with the knowledge that someone might be using
this towards you or other people around you
with that tone of annoyance.
And it sounds polite, excuse me, but it is
not polite and it’s showing lots of anger.
Congratulations on learning many great alternatives
to saying, “Huh?
What?”
I hope you feel empowered to use these in
your own personal life.
Don’t forget to download the free PDF worksheet.
You can click on the link in the description
so that you never forget these phrases, so
that you can use them in the right situations,
and so that you can understand them when other
people use them.
Well, now I have a question for you.
Let me know in the comments below, which of
these expressions will you use the next time
that you don’t understand someone?
Practice using the phrase in the comments
and I can’t wait to see which one you chose.
Well, thank you so much for learning English
with me, and I’ll see you again next Friday
for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel.
Bye!
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