Breakdown of Wie bitte? Ich verstehe nicht.
ich
I
verstehen
to understand
nicht
not
Wie bitte
pardon? sorry, what?
Questions & Answers about Wie bitte? Ich verstehe nicht.
Why does "Wie bitte?" mean "Pardon?" when "wie" means "how" and "bitte" means "please"?
Wie bitte? is a set phrase in German. Literally, it translates to "How, please?", but it is the standard, polite way to say "Pardon me?" or "Could you repeat that?" when you did not hear or understand what someone said.
Why is there no word for "do" in Ich verstehe nicht?
Unlike English, German does not use helping verbs like "do" or "does" to make a negative sentence. To say "I do not understand", you just take the verb verstehe (understand) and put nicht (not) right after it, literally saying "I understand not".
Why does the verb end in "-e" here (verstehe)?
The dictionary form of the verb is verstehen (to understand). When talking about yourself using ich (I), you drop the "-n" or "-en" at the end and add an "-e". This makes it ich verstehe.
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