Breakdown of Извините, повторите, пожалуйста.
повторите, пожалуйста
could you repeat that, please
извините
excuse me, sorry (polite)
Questions & Answers about Извините, повторите, пожалуйста.
Why do both извините and повторите end in -ите?
Because these are polite commands. The basic, informal commands for 'excuse' and 'repeat' are извини and повтори. To make them polite or to address multiple people (matching the formal 'you', Вы), you add -те to the end, giving you the -ите ending taught in this lesson.
Why are the words 'could you' and 'that' missing from the Russian sentence?
Russian is much more direct than English! While English adds phrases like 'could you' to make a request sound polite, Russian simply uses the formal command form (повторите) plus пожалуйста (please). The word 'that' is completely understood from the context, so it is just left out.
How would I say this informally to a close friend?
To speak informally to one person (as if you are using the ты form), you just drop the -те ending from both verbs. The sentence becomes: Извини, повтори, пожалуйста.
Why does пожалуйста sound different from how it is spelled?
The letter й in the middle of пожалуйста is silent in everyday speech. Because it is such a common word, native speakers say it very quickly, so it usually gets shortened and sounds more like 'pa-ZHAL-sta'.
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