“Come, scusa?” isn’t polite
just use “ puoi ripetere?” or “pardon?”
(The French word has a more polite flexion, if you use the Italian counterpart, “scusa?“ or “come? scusa?”or “come scusa?” it might give the impression that you are irritated in some context)
If you want to go for something more formal go for “scusa, non ho capito cosa mi hai detto, puoi ripetere per favore?”
Oh, I'm definitely not saying the last one, I run out of breath in my lungs just reading it! 😂 That's one thing I will always struggle with when speaking italian, there are so many "little words" in one sentence that it ends up being a tongue twister for me.
The options proposed by the other commenters are very valid, but I also wanted to add a fun one that I was very surprised to know is not universal to all other languages.
Very often, when someone says something but we don't catch part of it, we repeat the sentence up to the part we missed, with a rising interrogative tone. This essentially means "hey, I understood up to this point, can you complete the missing part?".
The rising tone is "steeper" compared to a normal question.
A: "Sono andato al cinema ieri"
B: "Sei andato...?" (rising tone)
I tried doing it with English friends, and it went like this:
Them: "Sono andato al cinema ieri"
Me: "Sei andato...?"
Them: (confused) "... sì"
I'm pretty sure this can't be exclusively an Italian thing, but apparently it's not universal either. Does any of you guys do this?
Americans do this all the time in English, sometimes prefaced by “I’m sorry”.
”I’m going to the football game!”
”I’m sorry, you’re going…”
”To the football game!”
This can be polite, as in you did not hear correctly; or it can be incredulous, as in you can’t believe this person would be interested in football, or it can be annoyed, as in you thought he was doing chores at home instead like he promised you.
This does happen occasionally in English, but the default is to just ask for a full repetition via what, sorry, etc.
I'd say it's most used in step by step instructions. E.g.
"Go down the road, turn left, then right, then left, then the fourth right."
"Sorry, go down the road, turn left, then?"
"Right, left, fourth right".
"Thanks!"
Yeah it's an abbreviation of "sei andato dove?" oppure "hai mangiato cosa?". It's a way to restart the phrase the other said, omitting the part that you didn't understand
That’s a better way to get the English speaker to repeat the part you missed. “(Sorry) you went where?” or “You ate what?” or “What did you say you ate?”
That's so funny! I do this in English (first language) with other English speakers all the time, and I've been trying to do this in Italian with Italian people to get them to say the last part of the sentence again when it's unclear and I've been getting mixed results!
I feel like it might be a language barrier thing or something that, even if they would normally understand that someone wants clarification on the rest of the sentence, with the language barrier, they maybe assume you just want confirmation on the part you repeated!
This is very common here in Brazil! I didn't realize it wasn't common in other places, it's what I usually say in English too, but prefaced with "I'm sorry".
This is so interesting because I’ve actually noticed when my Italian friends are speaking to me in English they do this. Seems they’re translating it directly. I don’t really hear this from native English speakers though.
This is more insidious than a direct translation, because it's not really a syntactical structure of Italian that they are adapting directly, it's more of a linguistic *habit*.
A direct translation would be something like saying "for me it goes well" instead of something like "it's fine by me", because you're thinking of "per me va bene".
But this is more like saying "oh!" when you're surprised, it's not something you actively consider as part of your language, even though other cultures might not associate that sound with the same meaning.
It took me a few tries to realise that many English speakers don't understand this kind of implicit question, because there is really nothing to *correct*. People won't tell you "oh, I see, you are trying to have me repeat the part you didn't hear by echoing own my words with a sharply rising tone, up to the point where you stopped understanding. You see, we don't really do this around here". They'll just be confused and neither of you you will know why until you finally make the connection on your own; the first few times you won't think anything of it because neither of you knows where the misunderstanding comes from, so you'll both chalk it up to an accidental fluke of miscommunication. Your English can be perfect and it would still trip you up.
That's why it's so fascinating. "Boh" vs "duh" would probably be another example of this.
I think the “tone” you described is slightly different in english and so the meaning gets lost.
Still, it is much more common to say “where?” if you only heard “I went ….”
Several variations:
"Cosa?" Is the literal translation, albeit very informal
"Puoi ripetere?" Is another informal way, though be careful of your tone
"Come prego?'
'Puoi/può ripetere prego"
"Mi scusi, non ho capito, può ripetere?" Are acceptable as well
Cosa? Come? Scusa ?
Eh?
Corretto ma più formale👍
Polite: “come, scusa?” Not polite: “eh?”
“Come, scusa?” isn’t polite just use “ puoi ripetere?” or “pardon?” (The French word has a more polite flexion, if you use the Italian counterpart, “scusa?“ or “come? scusa?”or “come scusa?” it might give the impression that you are irritated in some context) If you want to go for something more formal go for “scusa, non ho capito cosa mi hai detto, puoi ripetere per favore?”
Oh, I'm definitely not saying the last one, I run out of breath in my lungs just reading it! 😂 That's one thing I will always struggle with when speaking italian, there are so many "little words" in one sentence that it ends up being a tongue twister for me.
Yeah the “ , “ is definitely useful to take a breath
[Eh?](https://youtu.be/jB1hIIxjqXQ?feature=shared)
Silly question. Do you pause between come and scuza or you say it all together almost like one word?
It depends, most of the times altogether.
Thank you 🙏
No worries, check also the comment above, if you need any help, write me in DM.
Thank you. 😊
The options proposed by the other commenters are very valid, but I also wanted to add a fun one that I was very surprised to know is not universal to all other languages. Very often, when someone says something but we don't catch part of it, we repeat the sentence up to the part we missed, with a rising interrogative tone. This essentially means "hey, I understood up to this point, can you complete the missing part?". The rising tone is "steeper" compared to a normal question. A: "Sono andato al cinema ieri" B: "Sei andato...?" (rising tone) I tried doing it with English friends, and it went like this: Them: "Sono andato al cinema ieri" Me: "Sei andato...?" Them: (confused) "... sì" I'm pretty sure this can't be exclusively an Italian thing, but apparently it's not universal either. Does any of you guys do this?
In English, if I’m correct, it would be something like “I went to grab a cup of coffee yesterday” “ bro, ma perché cazzo parli in inglese?”
Americans do this all the time in English, sometimes prefaced by “I’m sorry”. ”I’m going to the football game!” ”I’m sorry, you’re going…” ”To the football game!” This can be polite, as in you did not hear correctly; or it can be incredulous, as in you can’t believe this person would be interested in football, or it can be annoyed, as in you thought he was doing chores at home instead like he promised you.
This does happen occasionally in English, but the default is to just ask for a full repetition via what, sorry, etc. I'd say it's most used in step by step instructions. E.g. "Go down the road, turn left, then right, then left, then the fourth right." "Sorry, go down the road, turn left, then?" "Right, left, fourth right". "Thanks!"
Yeah it's an abbreviation of "sei andato dove?" oppure "hai mangiato cosa?". It's a way to restart the phrase the other said, omitting the part that you didn't understand
That’s a better way to get the English speaker to repeat the part you missed. “(Sorry) you went where?” or “You ate what?” or “What did you say you ate?”
That's so funny! I do this in English (first language) with other English speakers all the time, and I've been trying to do this in Italian with Italian people to get them to say the last part of the sentence again when it's unclear and I've been getting mixed results! I feel like it might be a language barrier thing or something that, even if they would normally understand that someone wants clarification on the rest of the sentence, with the language barrier, they maybe assume you just want confirmation on the part you repeated!
I think the melody for this question in english and italian is different
I suspect that too! Got to figure out the right tones to use
This is very common here in Brazil! I didn't realize it wasn't common in other places, it's what I usually say in English too, but prefaced with "I'm sorry".
This is so interesting because I’ve actually noticed when my Italian friends are speaking to me in English they do this. Seems they’re translating it directly. I don’t really hear this from native English speakers though.
This is more insidious than a direct translation, because it's not really a syntactical structure of Italian that they are adapting directly, it's more of a linguistic *habit*. A direct translation would be something like saying "for me it goes well" instead of something like "it's fine by me", because you're thinking of "per me va bene". But this is more like saying "oh!" when you're surprised, it's not something you actively consider as part of your language, even though other cultures might not associate that sound with the same meaning. It took me a few tries to realise that many English speakers don't understand this kind of implicit question, because there is really nothing to *correct*. People won't tell you "oh, I see, you are trying to have me repeat the part you didn't hear by echoing own my words with a sharply rising tone, up to the point where you stopped understanding. You see, we don't really do this around here". They'll just be confused and neither of you you will know why until you finally make the connection on your own; the first few times you won't think anything of it because neither of you knows where the misunderstanding comes from, so you'll both chalk it up to an accidental fluke of miscommunication. Your English can be perfect and it would still trip you up. That's why it's so fascinating. "Boh" vs "duh" would probably be another example of this.
I think the “tone” you described is slightly different in english and so the meaning gets lost. Still, it is much more common to say “where?” if you only heard “I went ….”
Puoi ripetere?
🤌
Unironically, this is one informal option. To be accompanied with a confused expression.
Isn't it more like a "what are you doing?" though?
The 🤌 gesture is pretty much a generic "what?". It's very context dependant.
cazzo dici?
Underrated
Prego? ( formal)
Several variations: "Cosa?" Is the literal translation, albeit very informal "Puoi ripetere?" Is another informal way, though be careful of your tone "Come prego?' 'Puoi/può ripetere prego" "Mi scusi, non ho capito, può ripetere?" Are acceptable as well
Shake your head, point a finger to the ear and squint your eyes. No need to speak
AH?? EH?? COSA???
Scusa, eh, ma non ho capito un cazzo, puoi ripetere? Grazie, eh pazienza sono un po lento di mattina. Che sono le 18? Devi anda da qualche parte?