I do not understand.
Capisco means I understand. Put non before it.
FREE BEGINNER LESSON 6 · ITALIAN
Italian: 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 Italian phrases and their meanings
Do you speak English?
Parla addresses a stranger politely here. Informal: parli inglese?
More slowly, please.
Più means more. Lentamente means slowly.
Could you repeat that, please?
Può is the polite form here. Ripetere means to repeat.
How the sentence works
Non goes before a verb to make it negative: non capisco. Parla inglese? addresses someone politely; parli inglese? is informal. Può ... ? is a polite could you request, followed by an infinitive such as ripetere.
A short conversation in Italian
Do you speak English?
A little.
More slowly, please.
Words to recognise
English
slowly
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 Italian
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.