“I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” in Vietnamese (English × Vietnamese)

When to use it

Use it when someone explained too quickly, such as how a ticket machine works.

“I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” · The sentence in English

In “I didn't understand the instructions, can you repeat?” ‘didn't’ negates the past, ‘-s’ makes the plural, and ‘can you’ is inverted.

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"

“Tôi chưa hiểu phần hướng dẫn, bạn nói lại được không?” · The sentence in Vietnamese

In “Tôi chưa hiểu phần hướng dẫn, bạn nói lại được không?” ‘chưa hiểu’ (haven't understood yet) is softer than ‘không hiểu’. ‘nói lại’ joins ‘nói’ (say) and ‘lại’ (again) for ‘repeat’.

Tôi

pronoun'I', the one who didn't follow

chưa

adverb'not yet'; softer than không

hiểu

verbhiểu · tense: unmarked · 'understand'; chưa says it hasn't happened yet

phần

noun'part, section'

hướng

nounfirst syllable of hướng dẫn

dẫn

nounhướng dẫn = instructions

bạn

pronoun'you', the one who explained

nói

verbnói · tense: unmarked · 'say'; nói lại = repeat

lại

adverb'again', after the verb

được

auxiliary verbđược · tense: unmarked · a gentle way to ask someone

không

particlequestion particle

What changes from one language to the other · English × Vietnamese

English has one verb, ‘repeat’; Vietnamese says ‘nói lại’ and marks the past with ‘chưa’, not with the verb.

Example conversation