Learn how to ask someone to repeat
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| Jessi: Hello, and welcome to Finnish Survival Phrases, brought to you by FinnishPod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Finland. You'll be surprised at how far a little Finnish will go. Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by FinnishPod101.com and there you'll find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment! |
| Finnish Survival Phrases lesson 9 - Can You Say it Again in Finnish? |
| Reeta: There will be many times when the Finnish is coming at you fast and furious and you may not catch all or any of it. In these instances, asking the speaker to say it again can prove the difference between understanding a crucial piece of information and spending the rest of the day trying to figure out what it was. The following phrase will not only give you a better sense of the language, but will also help you tune your ear! |
| In Finnish, "Could you repeat that, please?" is Voisitko toistaa? Let’s break it down, Voisitko toistaa. Once more, Voisitko toistaa. |
| Toistaa means "to repeat." The first word, voisitko, means "Could you," where voisit is the second-person singular of voida ("can") in conditional form and ko is the interrogative suffix. |
| Let’s break it down, Voisitko. |
| If you want to address someone formally, use the second-person plural phrase Voisitteko toistaa? |
| Voisitteko is also conditional. Before the interrogative suffix comes the second-person plural form of the verb, which can also be used to address one person formally. |
| Now let's look at the informal expression, Voitko toistaa? |
| It means, "Can you repeat?" |
| Toistaa is "to repeat" and voitko means "Can you?" |
| If you want to say that shorter sentence a little more formally, it's Voitteko toistaa? |
| Voitte is the second-person plural of voida ("can"), and ko, as you know, is the interrogative suffix. |
| The next sentence is less formal: Voisitko sanoa uudestaan? |
| It means, "Could you say (that) again?" Let’s break it down, Voisitko sanoa uudestaan. Once more, Voisitko sanoa uudestaan. |
| Sanoa is the verb "to say" in the infinitive. Uudestaan is "once more." If voisitko is replaced with voitko, this sentence becomes even less formal. |
| Voitko sanoa uudestaan. |
| To make it more formal, we can replace the verb voisitko with voisitteko. |
| Voisitteko sanoa uudestaan? |
| This means "Could you say (it) again?" |
| At times, you may not understand the speaker even after a repeat. This is often due to how fast the person is speaking. In these cases, you can say, "Slowly, please": Hitaammin, kiitos. Let’s break it down, Hitaammin, kiitos. Once more, Hitaammin, kiitos. |
| The first word, hitaammin, means "more slowly." Kiitos, of course, is still "please." |
| We can use the phrases we've seen so far together. |
| "Can you repeat slowly, please?" |
| Voisitko toistaa hitaammin, kiitos? |
| Here we have our first sentence with the conditional verb in the beginning. It is a polite request that you can use when talking to strangers. |
| With friends you can say Voitko toistaa hitaammin? |
| Ok, to close out today's lessons, we’d like you to practice what you have just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for shouting it out loud. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so Onnea! which means “Good luck!” in Finnish. |
| “Could you repeat?” - Voisitko toistaa? |
| “Could you repeat? (formal)” - Voisitteko toistaa? |
| “Say that again, please.” - Voisitko sanoa uudestaan? |
| “Can you repeat slowly, please?” - Voitko toistaa hitaammin, kiitos? |
| “Slowly, please. (informal) ” - Hitaammin, kiitos. |
| Jessi: Alright! That's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by FinnishPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment! |
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