Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
Hei! Last time, you used surrounding words to make a careful guess about something you had not understood. But if the missing detail matters—or context still leaves several possibilities—guessing is not enough. In this lesson, you will learn to keep the conversation in Norwegian by asking for exactly the help you need: a repetition, a slower repetition, or different wording.
First, ask to hear it again
If you missed a few sounds, start with a short request. You do not have to explain why you missed them.
Unnskyld, kan du si det en gang til?
Sorry, can you say that again?
Unnskyld gets the speaker’s attention politely. En gang til means “one more time.” Another useful version is Kan du gjenta det?—“Can you repeat that?” After someone has just spoken, a rising Unnskyld? can also invite them to repeat, though the fuller request makes your intention clearer.
Listen to the pronunciation of the two fuller requests before reading on.
Learn Norwegian in 30 Minutes - ALL the Norwegian Conversation Basics You Need
In “Learn Norwegian in 30 Minutes” from Speak Norsk, the speaker says several short phrases you can use when you have not understood someone. Listen for phrases you could use immediately in conversation.
Watch the repair phrases. Focus on “Kan du gjenta?” and “Kan du si det en gang til?”; say each one aloud after the speaker. You can leave the other expressions for another time.
A repetition works best when the first hearing was simply unclear—for example, if someone spoke while you were looking away. If you caught most of the sentence, you can narrow the request:
Kan du si den siste delen en gang til?
Can you say the last part again?
That tells the speaker they need not restart the whole conversation.
If speed is the problem, say so
Sometimes you hear the same stream of sounds a second time and still cannot separate the words. In that case, another repetition at the same speed may not help. Ask for a slower one:
Kan du si det litt saktere?
Can you say that a little more slowly?
The small word litt (“a little”) makes this an easy, measured request rather than an instruction to change how someone speaks for the rest of the conversation. You can also ask Kan du snakke litt saktere? if you want the speaker to slow down more generally. Langsommere is another word for “more slowly”; both litt langsommere and litt saktere work here.
The Norwegian Language Blog brings these requests together with a few other ways to signal that something was unclear.
Slow Down and Repeat | Norwegian Language Blog
Read “Slow Down and Repeat” from the Norwegian Language Blog to see how brief requests fit into an ordinary exchange. Concentrate on phrases you can actually say, rather than memorizing the entire list.
The article has an opening paragraph followed by two lists of phrases. Start with the opening example and read the first list, paying particular attention to “Unnskyld?”, “Hva mener du?” and “Kan du gjenta det?”. In the second list, read from “Si det en gang til, er du snill” through the slower-speech request. Notice that these phrases ask for different kinds of help.
You do not need to announce Jeg snakker bare litt norsk (“I only speak a little Norwegian”) every time you miss something. A specific request is usually more useful: it tells the speaker what to do next.
If the words are clear but the meaning is not
Imagine someone repeats a sentence slowly. You now hear every word, but you still do not understand what they want you to do. Kan du gjenta det? may produce the same sentence for a third time. Ask for an explanation or different wording instead:
Kan du si det på en annen måte?
Can you say it another way?
Hva mener du?
What do you mean?
Use Hva mener du? when the intended meaning is unclear. Use Kan du si det på en annen måte? when a simpler formulation might help. These are not quite the same as asking someone to slow down: the problem is now the wording or idea, not the speed.
You can point to the precise word that caused trouble. Recall lapp from the previous lesson: you could infer that it was something to collect at reception, but not exactly what it was. In person, you might say:
Unnskyld, hva mener du med «lapp»?
Sorry, what do you mean by “lapp”?
If you want the meaning of the word itself, Hva betyr «lapp»? means “What does ‘lapp’ mean?” Quoting the troublesome word saves the speaker from having to guess which part you missed.
Choose the request that fits the gap
Here are three short exchanges. Notice how the listener changes the request as the source of difficulty changes.
You did not catch the utterance:
Speaker: Vi får mer i morgen.
You: Unnskyld, kan du si det en gang til?
Speaker: Vi får mer i morgen.
The utterance was too fast:
Speaker: Vi er tomme for melk akkurat nå, men vi får mer i morgen.
You: Kan du si det litt saktere?
Speaker: Vi er tomme for melk akkurat nå. Vi får mer i morgen.
You heard the words but need a clearer explanation:
Speaker: Du må hente en lapp i resepsjonen før du går inn.
You: Hva mener du med «lapp»?
Speaker: Det er en liten papirlapp du får i resepsjonen. Vis den før du går inn.
Your tone matters as much as adding extra polite words. A calm Unnskyld and an ordinary question sound natural; there is no need for a long apology. If the speaker switches to English when you would rather practise Norwegian, you can say Kan vi fortsette på norsk? Bare litt saktere. (“Can we continue in Norwegian? Just a little more slowly.”)
For a few minutes, say your three main requests aloud at a comfortable pace: Kan du si det en gang til? Kan du si det litt saktere? Kan du si det på en annen måte? The aim is to have each ready when you need it, without first constructing it word by word.
What to take away
Match the request to the problem. Ask for en gang til when you missed the sounds, litt saktere when the pace prevented you from following, and på en annen måte when you heard the words but need a new explanation. If only one word is unclear, name it.
In the next lesson, you will build on these requests by checking a partly understood message in your own words, so the speaker can confirm or correct it.