DO NOT SAY ‘WHAT?’ (How To Be Polite In English)

If you think it’s okay to use the word ‘what’ in all situations when you didn’t understand or when you didn’t hear someone, then you need to watch this video.

A lot of the time the word ‘what’ can be rude and not polite.

That’s why in today’s video I am going to show you 25 phrases which can either mean ‘What’ or ‘I don’t understand.’

I will show you some formal ways which you can use at work. I will show you some informal ways which you can use with friends and family and finally, I will show you some casual and slang ways which are very interesting and a bit funny, too. Okay, are you ready? Let’s look at some formal phrases first.

Phrase #1

The first formal phrase is ‘Pardon?’ Note here when I say this phrase, my intonation or my pitch goes up. Pardon? This is a very polite phrase you can use when you didn’t hear someone and you want them to repeat themselves.

For me, this is one of my favourite phrases to use in formal situations when I want someone to repeat something. For example, let’s pretend I’m at work and my boss says something to me and I didn’t hear what he said, I would say ‘Pardon?’ This is very polite.

Phrase #2

The next phrase is ‘Sorry?’ Even though you’re saying ‘sorry’, this phrase just means ‘Can you repeat yourself please? I didn’t hear you. When you’re using this phrase, your intonation should go up. Sorry? If you say ‘sorry’ and your intonation goes down, the other person may not know that you want them to repeat themselves. So make sure your intonation goes up. Sorry?

Phrase #3

The third phrase is ‘Excuse me?’ Again, this phrase is used when you didn’t hear what someone said and you want them to repeat themselves again. For me, I personally don’t really like this phrase because if you get the tone wrong, it can sound a bit angry or annoyed. So for me, I personally don’t use this one but if you want to use it, it’s up to you.

Phrase #4

The fourth phrase is ‘Say that again, please.’ This phrase means exactly what it says. It means you want the other person to say what they said again. For me, I like this phrase. I think it’s very polite.

Phrase #5

The next phrase is ‘Could you say that again, please?’ This phrase is similar to the last phrase but it’s even more polite because we’re using the word ‘could’. It’s also more polite because we’re asking a question.

This is one of the basic rules of being polite in English. If you want to be polite, try asking a question in the past tense instead of making a statement in the present tense. Again, I really like this phrase and I think it’s very polite and respectful.

Phrase #6

The next phrase is ‘Could you repeat that, please?’ This phrase is similar to the last phrase but we’re just using the word ‘repeat’ instead of the word ‘say’. This is a very polite phrase and it’s very respectful.

Phrase #7

The next phrase is ‘Would you mind repeating that, please?’ This is similar to the last phrases but instead of using the word ‘could’, we’re using the word ‘would’. And ‘would’ is even more polite than the word ‘could’.

So this phrase is one of the most polite ways you can use to ask someone to repeat themselves. If you have a very formal job like working in a luxury hotel, you can use this phrase with your guests. It’s very polite and very respectful.

Phrase #8

The next phrase is ‘I beg your pardon.’ This phrase means ‘I didn’t hear you. Can you please repeat yourself?’

For me, I don’t really like this phrase because sometimes it can sound like you’re a bit annoyed or a bit angry at the person that you are speaking to. Even if you say it with the right tone, it can still sound like you are a bit annoyed or angry with the person you are speaking to. So for me, I don’t really use this one.

Phrase #9

The next phrase is ‘Sorry, I missed that.’ If you miss something that someone says to you, it means you didn’t hear it or you didn’t hear it clearly. So if you say this to someone, it means you want them to repeat themselves.

For example, let’s pretend someone is telling you their telephone number and you didn’t hear what they said, you can say ‘Sorry, I missed that.’ This is a very native-like way of saying ‘I didn’t hear you. Can you repeat that, please?’

Phrase #10

The next phrase is ‘Sorry, I didn’t catch that.’ This phrase is similar to the last phrase and what you see on the screen now is what the word ‘catch’ means. So when we say ‘I didn’t catch that’, it means I didn’t catch your words. I didn’t hear you or I didn’t hear you clearly. So use this phrase when you didn’t hear someone and when you want them to repeat themselves.

Phrase #11

The next phrase is ‘What do you mean by that?’ You can use this phrase when you did hear what someone said but you don’t understand it. So if you say this phrase to someone they will know that you want them to explain themselves in a different way, with different words.

Please remember that this phrase doesn’t mean ‘Could you repeat yourself?’ This phrase means ‘Can you say what you said again and use different words?’

Phrase #12

The next phrase is ‘Could you run that by me again?’ ‘Run that by me’ means to explain or to say something again. We normally use this phrase when we heard what someone said but we didn’t understand it 100%. Maybe that person said a lot to us. Maybe they gave us a lot of information but we just didn’t have time to understand it all.

So we use this phrase when we want that person to repeat what they said but use different words. We want to hear what they said in a different way.

Phrase #13

Now let’s look at some informal phrases. The first phrase is ‘Huh?’ Huh? This is a very informal way to say ‘What? What did you say?’ Please note that this is very informal and should only be used with close friends and family. Please don’t use this in formal situations as it can be very rude and not polite and it can also be very disrespectful.

Phrase #14

The next phrase is ‘What was that?’ This is short for ‘What was that you said?’ So this phrase just means ‘What? Could you repeat that please?’ And we use it when we didn’t hear what someone said to us. Remember, this is an informal phrase.

Phrase #15

The next phrase is ‘What did you say?’ This phrase means exactly what it says and we use it when we didn’t hear what someone said to us.

Phrase #16

The next phrase is ‘What does that mean?’ We use this phrase when we heard what the person said but we don’t understand the meaning. So this phrase does not mean ‘Could you repeat yourself please?’ We use this phrase when we want the other person to explain what they said but in different words or in a different way.

Phrase #17

The next phrase is ‘I have no clue what you mean.’ This phrase means ‘I heard the words that you said but I don’t understand the meaning.’ So this phrase does not mean ‘Can you repeat yourself?’

We use this phrase when we want someone to explain something again in a different way or with different words. Remember, this phrase is informal and shouldn’t be used in formal situations because it can be quite rude.

Phrase #18

The next phrase is ‘What you just said makes no sense to me.’ Makes no sense means something that doesn’t have a clear meaning for you. It’s illogical and you just can’t understand it. So we use this phrase when we want the person to explain themselves again but using different words or a different way.

Phrase #19

The next phrase is ‘That’s beyond me. I didn’t get it.’ ‘Beyond me’ means something that you don’t understand. ‘I didn’t get it’ means I didn’t understand.

Phrase #20

Now let’s look at some casual and slang phrases which are very informal. The first phrase is ‘I’m lost.’ If you say ‘I’m lost’, it doesn’t mean that you don’t know where you are or you don’t know how to get to where you want to go. ‘I’m lost’ can mean ‘I’m confused’ and it can mean ‘I don’t understand.’ So use this phrase when you heard what someone said but you don’t understand their meaning.

Phrase #21

The next phrase is ‘I don’t follow you.’ What you see on the screen now is the meaning of the word ‘follow’, right? But this phrase is similar to the last phrase If you ‘follow’ what someone’s saying, you understand them. If you don’t ‘follow’ what someone is saying, you don’t understand what they’re saying.

So use this phrase when you want someone to repeat themselves again but you want them to use a different way or different words.

Phrase #22

The next phrase is ‘Are we even speaking the same language?’ This is a funny phrase you can use when you’re talking to someone and you feel like you don’t understand them and they feel like they don’t understand you because if you were speaking the same language, you should understand each other, right?

But, it seems like you don’t understand each other so maybe you’re not speaking the same language. This is just a joke and it’s a funny way to say ‘I don’t understand you.’

Phrase #23

The next phrase is ‘I couldn’t make heads or tails of what you just said.’ This phrase means ‘I’m confused and I don’t understand what you’re saying.’

I asked Google about the meaning of this idiom and Google said that heads is talking about the top and tails is talking about the bottom. So if you don’t know where the top is and you don’t know where the bottom is, how can you understand? You probably can’t, right?

Phrase #24

The next phrase is ‘You may as well be speaking Chinese.’ ‘May as well be’ means it seems like what I just said is true already. So if I say ‘You may as well be speaking Chinese’, that means I feel like you are speaking Chinese right now even though you are not speaking Chinese. You are speaking English.

Phrase #25

The last phrase is ‘It’s all Greek to me.’ This phrase is similar to the last phrase. It means I feel like what you’re saying is a different language. That’s why I don’t understand you.

For example, let’s pretend someone is talking to me about space, stars, the planets and I don’t understand what they’re saying because they’re using very complicated words and language, then I can ‘It’s all Greek to me.’

Conclusion

That’s it for today. Make sure you check out this video right here on different ways to say ‘How are you?’ If you haven’t checked out our English pronunciation course and our eBooks, you can check them out right now in the description below.

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Note here when I say this my intonation or my pitch goes up. Goes. Goes up. Goes up.