When to use it
Use it when someone in India explains directions or a procedure too fast and you want to hear it again.
“I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” · The sentence in English
In “I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” the first clause is a past negative, ‘did not’ + the base form ‘understand’. The second clause is a question with ‘can’ before ‘you’; in speech, ‘that’ after ‘repeat’ is often dropped.
- 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"
“मुझे निर्देश समझ नहीं आए, क्या आप दोहरा सकते हैं?” · The sentence in Hindi
In “मुझे निर्देश समझ नहीं आए, क्या आप दोहरा सकते हैं?” the first clause literally says ‘the instructions did not come into understanding to me’: ‘मुझे समझ नहीं आया’ is the everyday Hindi way to say ‘I didn't understand’. The verb ‘आए’ is plural to agree with ‘निर्देश’ (instructions). ‘क्या’ opens the polite question.
- मुझे
- pronounमैं + को; with समझ आना, the one who understands
- निर्देश
- nounmasculine plural noun 'instructions'
- समझ
- nounfeminine noun 'understanding'; समझ आना = 'to make sense to'
- नहीं
- adverbnegation
- आए
- verbआना · aspect: perfective · gender: masculine · number: plural · समझ नहीं आए 'did not make sense'; plural for निर्देश
- क्या
- particlequestion particle opening the second clause
- आप
- pronounrespectful 'you'
- दोहरा
- verbदोहराना · form: stem · stem of दोहराना 'to repeat'
- सकते
- auxiliary verbसकना · gender: masculine · number: plural (respect) · for आप
- हैं
- auxiliary verbहोना · tense: present · number: plural · with आप
What changes from one language to the other · English × Hindi
English makes the person the subject, ‘I didn't understand’; Hindi makes the instructions the subject with ‘मुझे’. English needs ‘did’ for the negative, Hindi only ‘नहीं’.
Example conversation
— मुझे निर्देश समझ नहीं आए, क्या आप दोहरा सकते हैं?
— I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?
— ज़रूर, मैं धीरे-धीरे बताता हूँ।
— Of course, I'll say it more slowly.