Breakdown of Entschuldigung, ich verstehe die Frage nicht.
ich
I
verstehen
to understand
die Frage
the question
nicht
not
Entschuldigung
excuse me; sorry
Questions & Answers about Entschuldigung, ich verstehe die Frage nicht.
Why does nicht go at the very end of the sentence?
In German, when you want to negate the entire action (in this case, not understanding), nicht usually gets pushed to the very end of the clause. You cannot say ich verstehe nicht die Frage, even though it feels natural in English.
What does Entschuldigung literally mean?
It literally translates to "apology" or "excuse." You will hear it used all the time as a polite catch-all for "Excuse me," "I'm sorry," or to politely get a stranger's attention.
Why didn't the word for "the" (die) change here since it's receiving the action?
Because Frage is a feminine noun. You are right that the object receiving an action (the accusative case) sometimes changes—specifically, masculine der changes to den. However, feminine (die) and neuter (das) words stay exactly the same.
Why does the verb verstehe end in an -e?
Because it is paired with ich (I). For most German verbs, when you are talking about yourself, you take the dictionary form of the verb (verstehen), drop the -n or -en, and add an -e to get verstehe.
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