Portuguese · Real conversations
Ask someone to repeat naturally in Portuguese
You can request a repeat, identify the part you missed, or ask for slower delivery. Explain the listening problem rather than implying the speaker's information is wrong.
Three ways to say it
Desculpe, você poderia repetir?
Sorry, could you say that again?
A polite general repeat request when you missed the whole message.
Não entendi a última parte.
I didn't catch the last part.
Identify the last part as the part you did not hear clearly.
Você poderia falar um pouco mais devagar?
Could you say it a little more slowly?
Ask for a slower version when hearing the same speed again would not help.
Avoid translating word by word
In English, 'I didn't catch that' means you did not hear or understand it; 'catch' does not refer to grabbing something. The examples use a natural hearing or understanding expression for that situation.
See the difference in context
Hearing the time of a meeting
A reunião começa às nove e meia.
The meeting starts at half past nine.
Desculpe, você poderia repetir?
Sorry, could you say that again?
Missing the last part of directions
Vamos nos encontrar na estação, ao lado da bilheteria.
We meet at the station, beside the ticket office.
Não entendi a última parte.
I didn't catch the last part.
Your turn
Ask the person to say the message a little more slowly. Make the listening adjustment specific.
Reveal a sample reply
Você poderia falar um pouco mais devagar?
Could you say it a little more slowly?
This speaking goal in other languages
A note on speaking Portuguese
These guides use Brazilian Portuguese. Você is a common everyday address; senhor or senhora may fit a more formal interaction. Eu gostaria and poderia can soften requests without making them complicated.
Keep the accents and nasal spellings, such as não and conexão. Portuguese in Portugal may use different everyday vocabulary or pronouns. The examples aim for broadly understandable Brazilian wording.
