Breakdown of Wie bitte? Können Sie langsam sprechen?
sprechen
to speak
langsam
slow, slowly
können
can / to be able to
Wie bitte
pardon? sorry, what?
Questions & Answers about Wie bitte? Können Sie langsam sprechen?
Why does Wie bitte? mean "Pardon"? Doesn't it literally translate to "How please?"
Yes, literally it translates to "How please?". It is a fixed phrase in German used when you didn't hear or understand what someone said. It is the standard, polite way to say "Pardon?" or "Come again?". It is much better to use this than just asking Was? (What?), which can sound quite rude.
Why is Sie capitalized in the middle of the sentence?
Sie with a capital "S" is the formal word for "you". You use it when speaking to strangers, elders, or people in a professional setting. If you were asking a friend to speak more slowly, you would use the informal du and say Kannst du langsam sprechen?.
Why is sprechen (speak) at the very end of the sentence?
This happens because of the verb können (can). In German, when you use a modal verb (a "helper" verb like can, must, or want), the main action verb gets pushed to the very end of the sentence in its original dictionary form. Since this is a yes/no question, Können goes first, and sprechen waits at the very end.
In English we say "slowly" instead of "slow". Why doesn't langsam have a special ending?
In German, adjectives (words that describe things) and adverbs (words that describe actions) share the exact same form. You don't need to add a special ending like "-ly" in English. Therefore, langsam means both "slow" and "slowly" depending on how it is used in the sentence.