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As I read here:

Exercise

The first two sentences are classified as "Nicht-Verstehen signalisieren". Are there other widely known terms or interjections to signal you didn't understand something?

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  • Just a few corrections: "Um Wiederholung bitten" (Wiederholung is a noun); also, "Nicht-Verstehen" or as verb "nicht verstehen" is not the same as "nichts verstehen" (nicht = not, nichts = nothing)
    – splattne
    Jul 21, 2011 at 9:38
  • @splattne: Editted. And yes, "nichts verstehen" and "nicht verstehen" are completely different but how it's related to the question? "Nicht-Verstehen" is wrong?
    – user508
    Jul 21, 2011 at 10:06
  • no, no, "Nicht-Verstehen" is correct. It's a noun and means the concept of "nicht verstehen". Sie wollte ihr Nicht-Verstehen signalisieren." is like saying "Sie wollte ihre Hilflosigkeit signalisieren."
    – splattne
    Jul 21, 2011 at 10:24
  • Elaborated: Wie meinen?
    – Ingo
    Sep 9, 2011 at 12:59
  • Wie meinen würde ich als gespreizt empfinden. In einem Kostümfilm von 17hundertetwas vielleicht. Aktuell wird es eher ironisch verwendet, oder schnippisch.
    – user unknown
    Jan 9, 2012 at 14:40

3 Answers 3

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"Wie bitte?" or simply "Bitte?" is the standard polite form. "Was?" is also common, but shows bad manners. Use it only if you are sure the addressed person doesn't mind.

By the way, I would remove "Ich brauche eine Auskunft." from that list. Nobody talks like that.

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  • +1 "Ich brauche eine Auskunft." is really weird. Although "Können Sie mir helfen?" is ok, it's a meta question. You should start with "Entschuldigung" oder "Entschuldigen sie bitte" and directly continue to your question i.e. "Entschuldig, können sie mir sagen wie ich zum Bahnhof komme?"
    – Hinek
    Jul 21, 2011 at 7:30
  • 4
    I don't think that "Ich brauche eine Auskunft" is weird. More common are other forms, like "Ich hätte gerne eine Auskunft" or "Können Sie mir bitte eine Auskunft geben", but there's nothing weird on all three forms. Now, that these forms may not be appropriate under all circumstances is a different matter. But when you're going to ask when a train departs, it's fine. It's not true that nobody talks like that - it's just that not everyone talks like that. But that's not the same. Other than that, the answer is good and deserves +1.
    – OregonGhost
    Jul 21, 2011 at 8:38
  • It's not my opinion, but an exercise in an international book. I was looking for interjections more than a simple sentence like "was" ..
    – user508
    Jul 21, 2011 at 8:55
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"Entschuldigung, das habe ich nicht verstanden"

would be very natural.

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  • If you talk about acoustic difficulties (speaker has a quite voice or ambient noise interferes) you can express that also: "Entschuldigung, das habe ich akustisch nicht verstanden"
    – 0x6d64
    Jan 9, 2012 at 19:04
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Nicht-Verstehen signalisieren:

  • Was meinen Sie damit?
  • Wie bitte? – Das habe ich eben akustisch nicht verstanden.
  • Versteh ich nicht!
  • Kapier ich nicht!(fam)
  • Das verstehe ich nicht [ganz].
  • [Entschuldigen Sie bitte, aber] das habe ich eben nicht verstanden.
  • Ich kann Ihnen nicht ganz folgen.

And "Hä?" as an interjection that I don't understand.

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