Sorry, what did you say? in Spanish
A phone call with a bad connection: asking to repeat, clarifying, politely declining in Spanish. 9 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Buenas tardes, le llamo por lo del piso del anuncio.» — Good afternoon, I'm calling about the apartment in the ad.; «Sí, dígame. ¿De qué anuncio se trata exactamente?» — Yes, go ahead. Which ad exactly is it? Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a phone call with a bad connection: asking to repeat, clarifying, politely declining. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Buenas tardes, le llamo por lo del piso del anuncio.Good afternoon, I'm calling about the apartment in the ad.
- Sí, dígame. ¿De qué anuncio se trata exactamente?Yes, go ahead. Which ad exactly is it?
- Del de la calle Olmo. Perdone, ¿cómo dice? No le he oído bien.The one on Olmo Street. Sorry, what did you say? I didn't hear you well.
- Le preguntaba el nombre. ¿Me lo deletrea, por favor?I was asking for your name. Could you spell it for me, please?
- Claro, se lo deletreo: ka, u, zeta, ene, e, te, ese, o, uve. Kuznetsov.Of course, I'll spell it out: k, u, z, n, e, t, s, o, v. Kuznetsov.
- Perfecto. Si lo he entendido bien, ¿quiere verlo esta semana?Perfect. If I have understood correctly, do you want to see it this week?
- Eso es. ¿Podría usted enseñármelo el jueves por la tarde?Exactly. Could you show it to me on Thursday afternoon?
- El jueves me temo que no. Es que ya lo enseño a otra persona.I'm afraid not on Thursday. The thing is, I'm already showing it to someone else.
- Vaya, qué pena. Pues quizá en otro momento. Muchas gracias igualmente.Oh, what a pity. Well, maybe another time. Thank you very much anyway.
Lines one by one
| Spanish | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Buenas tardes, le llamo por lo del piso del anuncio. | — | Good afternoon, I'm calling about the apartment in the ad. |
| Sí, dígame. ¿De qué anuncio se trata exactamente? | — | Yes, go ahead. Which ad exactly is it? |
| Del de la calle Olmo. Perdone, ¿cómo dice? No le he oído bien. | — | The one on Olmo Street. Sorry, what did you say? I didn't hear you well. |
| Le preguntaba el nombre. ¿Me lo deletrea, por favor? | — | I was asking for your name. Could you spell it for me, please? |
| Claro, se lo deletreo: ka, u, zeta, ene, e, te, ese, o, uve. Kuznetsov. | — | Of course, I'll spell it out: k, u, z, n, e, t, s, o, v. Kuznetsov. |
| Perfecto. Si lo he entendido bien, ¿quiere verlo esta semana? | — | Perfect. If I have understood correctly, do you want to see it this week? |
| Eso es. ¿Podría usted enseñármelo el jueves por la tarde? | — | Exactly. Could you show it to me on Thursday afternoon? |
| El jueves me temo que no. Es que ya lo enseño a otra persona. | — | I'm afraid not on Thursday. The thing is, I'm already showing it to someone else. |
| Vaya, qué pena. Pues quizá en otro momento. Muchas gracias igualmente. | — | Oh, what a pity. Well, maybe another time. Thank you very much anyway. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Spanish in this situation?
“Buenas tardes, le llamo por lo del piso del anuncio.” — Good afternoon, I'm calling about the apartment in the ad.. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.