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Portuguese · Meeting people · Elementary

How to ask someone to repeat in Portuguese

Say “Pode repetir, por favor?” to hear it again and “Fale mais devagar, por favor” to slow things down. If a word is new, ask “O que significa esta palavra?”, and for numbers or names, “Pode escrever, por favor?”. Saying “Estou a aprender português” usually makes people patient.

Try it · about two minutes

At the post office a clerk is talking too fast for you, so you ask them to repeat, slow down or write it down.

You choose what to say back, and Frasa tells you why it works.

The conversation

  1. Clerk

    Tire uma senha e aguarde.

    Take a number and wait.

    You

    Pode repetir, por favor?

    Can you repeat that, please?

  2. Clerk

    Percebeu?

    Did you understand?

    You

    Fale mais devagar, por favor.

    Please speak more slowly.

  3. Clerk

    Com calma, não há pressa.

    Take your time, there’s no rush.

    You

    Estou a aprender português.

    I’m learning Portuguese.

  4. Clerk

    Primeiro tem de tirar uma senha.

    First you have to take a number.

    You

    O que quer dizer “senha”?

    What does “senha” mean?

  5. Your number comes up. At the counter, the clerk reads out a long tracking number.

    You

    Pode escrever, por favor?

    Could you write it down, please?

  6. Clerk

    Vou escrever para si.

    I’ll write it down for you.

    You

    Agradeço muito a sua paciência.

    Thank you so much for your patience.

Key phrases

  • Desculpe, não percebo.

    Sorry, I don’t understand.

  • Pode repetir, por favor?

    Can you repeat that, please?

  • Desculpe, não ouvi bem.

    Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that.

  • Fale mais devagar, por favor.

    Please speak more slowly.

  • Pode repetir mais devagar?

    Can you repeat that more slowly?

  • Não percebi a última parte.

    I didn’t catch the last part.

  • O que significa esta palavra?

    What does this word mean?

  • Pode escrever, por favor?

    Could you write it down, please?

  • Estou a aprender português.

    I’m learning Portuguese.

  • Percebeu?

    Did you understand?

Good to know in Portugal

Fast, and swallowed

European Portuguese drops many unstressed vowels, so words run together. Asking people to slow down is normal, and most will.

Fale mais devagar, por favor.

Please speak more slowly.

Desculpe, not O quê?

Polite

Desculpe, não ouvi bem.

Sorry, I didn’t quite hear that.

Abrupt

O quê?

What?

A bare “O quê?” (what?) can sound abrupt with strangers. Start with “desculpe” instead.

When people switch to English

Many people in Portugal speak good English and may switch to help you. If you’d rather practise, say so kindly.

Prefiro falar português, para praticar.

I’d rather speak Portuguese, to practise.

More situations in Portuguese

All situations in Portuguese

Keep these phrases in Frasa

Frasa is an iPhone app for the conversations in front of you. Save phrases like these, rehearse them out loud, and they come back until they stick.

AI-generated. May be inaccurate.