Recommended resources
The freely available resources this lesson will direct you to.
- 25 Life-Changing Phrases: Say THIS When You DON’T Understand!www.youtube.com
- What to Say When You Don't Understand (and Avoid Embarrassment)www.youtube.com
- 13 Ways to Clarify When You Don’t Understand Someonewww.speakconfidentenglish.com
- Phrases: Speaking English | What to say when you don’t understandrachelsenglish.com
Hi! In the last lesson, you practiced checking a guess: “Did you say Thursday?” checks a word, while “So you mean I should come on Thursday?” checks your interpretation. But sometimes you don’t have a guess. You understood part of what someone said, and one piece is still missing.
Today you’ll practice a natural way to handle that moment: say what you understood, then point to the part you need help with. It lets the other person answer a small, useful question instead of starting the whole explanation again.
Say where you lost the thread
Imagine a friend says, “We’re meeting at the café, and then we’ll head over together,” but you miss the words after café. You can say:
“I got the part about the café, but I missed what comes after that.”
Or, if the end of the sentence was hard to hear:
“Sorry, I caught the first part. What was that last part?”
Both responses tell your friend where to begin again. You aren’t saying the entire message was unclear.
In this short excerpt from What to Say When You Don’t Understand (and Avoid Embarrassment), Speak Confident English demonstrates how to signal that you understood most of a message. Listen for the move of identifying a portion you missed; you don’t need to adopt every longer phrase in the clip.
What to Say When You Don't Understand (and Avoid Embarrassment)
Watch this short excerpt from What to Say When You Don't Understand (and Avoid Embarrassment) by Speak Confident English for an example of asking about only the missing portion.
Watch the three phrases, especially the first example about going over the final section once more. Notice that the speaker signals partial understanding before requesting help.
For everyday conversation, you can keep the wording short. “I got the first part, but…” and “I’m with you so far, but…” are useful openings. What comes after but matters most: name the point where you stopped following.
Was it the sound or the meaning?
You can understand the beginning of a message and still have two different kinds of gap.
If you missed the words, ask for the missing words:
Other person: “Pick up the package at the front desk, then—”
You: “I got the front-desk part, but I didn’t catch what you said after that.”
Other person: “Then bring it upstairs.”
If you heard the words but don’t know what they mean, ask about that particular phrase:
Other person: “They’ll put the package on hold.”
You: “I understand they have the package, but what do you mean by ‘on hold’?”
Other person: “They’ll keep it for you until tomorrow.”
Notice the difference between “I didn’t catch…” and “What do you mean by…?” The first is about hearing the words; the second is about understanding their meaning. You don’t have to explain this distinction to anyone—just choose the question that gets you the answer you need.
Rachel’s English offers spoken examples of asking about a missed final word or phrase, and asking what a particular expression means.
25 Life-Changing Phrases: Say THIS When You DON’T Understand!
Watch the selected excerpt of 25 Life-Changing Phrases: Say THIS When You DON’T Understand! from Rachel's English to hear how a question can point to one unclear word or phrase.
Watch the specific gap. Focus on the difference between asking about the last word or phrase and asking what a phrase means. The examples are varied; you only need the conversational move, not a long list to memorize.
If the person used an unfamiliar word, “What do you mean by ‘___’?” is often enough. If you’re unsure about only the ending, “What was that last part?” is more helpful than asking them to repeat everything.
When the missing piece is a detail or a connection
Sometimes you hear every word, but the speaker leaves out a detail you need:
Other person: “Let’s meet a little earlier.”
You: “Sure. I’m not clear on the time, though—what time were you thinking?”
You’ve understood the change of plan. Your question identifies the missing detail: the time. In a different situation, the gap might be which entrance, who to contact, or what to bring.
At other times, you understand two points separately but not how they fit together:
Other person: “The store closes early today, so we should leave the package here.”
You: “I follow the part about the store closing early, but why does that mean we should leave the package here?”
That question invites an explanation of the connection. Repeating the sentence would not necessarily help, because the words themselves weren’t the problem.
Read the focused parts of 13 Ways to Clarify When You Don’t Understand Someone from Speak Confident English. Some examples are more formal than casual American conversation, but the situations—an unclear connection, a vague detail, or an unfamiliar word—are common anywhere.
13 Ways to Clarify When You Don’t Understand Someone
Read these selected scenarios to notice how the question changes depending on the part that is unclear.
In “Scenario #2: When the Connection Isn’t Clear,” read the connection questions. Notice that the listener asks how two points relate instead of requesting repetition. Then, in “Scenario #3: When You Need More Details,” start at “Sometimes, a speaker may give general or vague ideas of their opinion” and continue through the example about asking a doctor for details on side effects; focus on how the question names the missing information. Finally, in “Scenario #4: When You’re Unfamiliar With a Topic or Word,” read the brief introduction, then look at the three questions immediately below it for ways to identify an unfamiliar word or topic.
The reading offers several choices. In a relaxed conversation, you can usually use a shorter version: “I get the part about X, but how does that relate to Y?” or “I understand the plan, but what time did you mean?”
Make it easy to answer
A good clarification request has two parts: a brief sign that you’re following, and one precise question. You don’t need to list everything you understood or apologize repeatedly.
Compare these responses to “We’ll use the side entrance because the main one is closed”:
Vague: “I don’t understand.”
Specific: “I got why we’re using the side entrance, but where exactly is it?”
The specific response shows what’s settled and what still needs an answer. A friendly, curious tone helps it sound like a request for help, not a challenge to the speaker.
Once they answer, a short acknowledgment keeps the conversation moving:
Other person: “It’s around the corner, next to the parking lot.”
You: “Oh, next to the parking lot. Got it.”
If that answer clears up your question, you can move on. If it doesn’t, it’s fine to ask one more focused question: “Is that the entrance with the blue door?”
Takeaway
When you understand only part of a message, don’t pretend you followed everything—and don’t automatically ask for the whole message again. Try “I got the part about…, but…”, then identify the gap. Ask for the words you missed, the meaning of a phrase, a missing detail, or the connection between two ideas.
Next, you’ll look at a different conversational pause: how to hold your turn naturally when you understand the question but need a moment to think.