When to use it
Use it when someone explained steps too fast and you could not follow.
The sentence in English — “I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?”
In “I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” ‘didn't’ negates the past, ‘-s’ makes ‘instructions’ plural, and ‘can you’ is inverted to ask.
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- didn't
- contractiondo · tense: past · contraction of "did not"; makes the negative in the past
- understand
- verbunderstand · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "didn't" the verb stays in its base form
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- instructions
- nounplural noun
- can
- auxiliary verbcan · tense: present · modal verb of ability or permission
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun
- repeat
- verbrepeat · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "can"
The sentence in Filipino — “Hindi ko naintindihan ang mga tagubilin, puwede mo bang ulitin?”
In “Hindi ko naintindihan ang mga tagubilin, puwede mo bang ulitin?” ‘Hindi’ (not) comes first and ‘naintindihan’ (understood) is perfective. ‘tagubilin’ (instruction) does not change; ‘mga’ makes it plural.
- Hindi
- adverb'not'
- ko
- pronoun'I', the one who understood
- naintindihan
- verbintindi · focus: object (-an) · aspect: perfective · na- + intindi + -han: completed
- ang
- prepositiontopic marker ang
- mga
- particleplural marker
- tagubilin
- noun'instruction'
- puwede
- adjective'can'
- mo
- pronoun'you', the doer
- bang
- particleba + linker -ng
- ulitin
- verbulit · focus: object (-in) · form: infinitive · ulit + -in 'to repeat (them)'
English × Filipino — What changes from one language to the other
English uses ‘-s’; Filipino puts ‘mga’ before the noun. English asks by inverting ‘can you’; Filipino adds the particle ‘bang’.
Example conversation
— Hindi ko naintindihan ang mga tagubilin, puwede mo bang ulitin?
— I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?
— Sige, dahan-dahan kong uulitin.
— Sure, I'll say it slowly.