I do not understand.
Verstehe is the ich form of verstehen. Nicht makes the statement negative.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 6 · GERMAN
German: When you do not understand
Ask for English, a slower pace or a repetition.
Polite · asking for understanding. Learn the meaning, listen to the pronunciation, then practise in the interactive lesson.
Practise this lessonOpening vocabulary referenceUseful German phrases and their meanings
Do you speak English?
Use capital Sie to address a stranger politely. The verb comes first in this question.
A little more slowly, please.
Etwas means a little here. Langsamer is the comparative of langsam, slow.
Could you repeat that, please?
Wiederholen means to repeat. With können, the infinitive goes at the end.
How the sentence works
Nicht makes a statement negative: ich verstehe nicht. A yes-or-no question starts with the verb: sprechen Sie Englisch? Können Sie ... ? is a polite request. The second verb goes at the end: können Sie das wiederholen? Noch einmal means once again.
A short conversation in German
Do you speak English?
A little.
A little more slowly, please.
Words to recognise
English
slow
to repeat
a little
Listen to the whole phrase before focusing on each word. You can replay as often as you like, and the interactive lesson uses pictures and a short exchange to put the meaning in context.
Open the interactive lessonThe opening six teaching lessons are free, including the mini-tests after lessons three and six. A test accepts any answer and shows the score and corrections at the end. No typing or speaking aloud is required.
Keep learning German
Free five-minute audio lesson and MP3 · Language learning games
The pronunciation uses prepared synthetic voices. Credits and licences explain the free voice models. Independent native-speaker certification is not claimed.