The Italian for “understand” is probably one of the most important words you’ll ever learn.
Why?
Imagine you’ve got your perfect Italian phrases ready, and you manage to say them right… ( sì!)
What happens next?
Italians reply, and sometimes you have no clue what they said!
Don’t worry, this situation is completely normal, it happens to all learners. The best way forward is to tell Italians what you understood (and what you didn’t). This will help you communicate clearly and keep the conversation going in Italian.
In this lesson you’ll learn how to do just that. Let’s start with the phrase Italians use most often…
Ho capito: I understood (what you said)
Here’s an interesting quirk of Italian! In English, to show you understand something that’s just been said in conversation, we often use the present tense (I understand). However, Italians nearly always use the past tense. For example:
Per favore, lasci la chiave in reception – Please leave the key in reception
Ok, ho capito, grazie – OK, I understood, thank you
Ho capito shows that you’ve received and understood the information, a bit like saying “got it!” Here’s a list of handy phrases you might use with this expression:
| Ho capito, grazie | I understood, thank you | OH KAH–PEE–TOH GRATS–YEAH |
| Capito, grazie | Understood, thank you | KAH–PEE–TOH GRATS–YEAH |
| Ho capito tutto | I understood everything | OH KAH–PEE–TOH TOO–TOH |
| Non ho capito tutto | I didn’t understand everything | NON OH KAH–PEE–TOH TOO–TOH |
| Scusi, non ho capito | Sorry, I didn’t understand(formal) | SKOO–ZEE NON OH KAH–PEE–TOH |
| Scusa, non ho capito | Sorry, I didn’t understand(informal) | SKOO–ZAH NON OH KAH–PEE–TOH |
| Ha capito? | Did you understand? (formal) | AH KAH–PEE–TOH? |
| Hai capito? | Did you understand? (informal) | AH–EE KAH–PEE–TOH? |
Formal vs. informal: As a simple rule of thumb, use the formal with adults you don’t know, including service staff like waiters, shopkeepers and taxi drivers . Use the informal with friends or young people.
Tone of voice: Just like in English, your tone is important, especially when asking the question Ha capito? Did you understand? Say it too strongly, and someone might think you’re exasperated! But if you say it softly with a smile, it’s clear that you’re checking to see if they understood your Italian. To be doubly sure, you can always add:
Ha capito il mio italiano? – Did you understand my Italian? (formal)
Hai capito il mio italiano? – Did you understand my Italian? (informal)
Capisco! I understand (Italian)
When you’re speaking to Italians, sometimes it’s helpful to explain how much you understand the language in general. In this case, we use the present, like this:
Capisco l’italiano – I understand Italian
Capisco un po’ di italiano – I understand a little Italian
Italians normally use capisco in the present tense to show that they understand a topic or a situation in general. Let’s see some handy phrases with capisco that you might use:
| Capisco l’italiano | I understand Italian | KAH–PEE–SKOH LEE–TAL–YAH–NOH |
| Capisco un po’ di italiano | I understand a bit of Italian | KAH–PEE–SKOH OON POH DEE EE–TAL–YAH–NOH |
| Scusi, non capisco l’italiano | Sorry, I don’t understand Italian (formal) | SKOO–ZEE NON KAH–PEE–SKOH LEE–TAL–YAH–NOH |
| Scusa, non capisco l’italiano | Sorry, I don’t understand Italian (informal) | SKOO–ZAH NON KAH–PEE–SKOH LEE–TAL–YAH–NOH |
When you shouldn’t say “I don’t understand” in Italian
Now you know the two most common ways to tell Italians that you don’t understand, for example:
Non ho capito – I didn’t understand (something they just said)
Non capisco l’italiano – I don’t understand Italian
But if you’re trying to learn Italian, most of the time you should avoid these phrases! Saying that you don’t understand is an invite for Italians to switch to English. It’s not their fault – you said that you didn’t understand, so they think they are being helpful.
Instead of saying non ho capito, try specifying how you want the listener to help you. For example:
| Piano, per favore | Slowly, please | PYAH–NOH PER–FAV–OR–REH |
| Può ripetere, per favore? | Can you repeat please? (formal) | PWOH REE–PEH–TEH–REH PER FAH–VOR–REH |
| Puoi ripetere, per favore? | Can you repeat please? (informal) | PWOI REE–PEH–TEH–REH PER FAH–VOH–REH |
| C’è una parola che non ho capito | There’s a word I didn’t understand | CHEH OO–NAH PAH–ROH–LAH KEH NON OH KAH–PEE–TOH |
| Non ho capito la parola ________ | I didn’t understand the word _______ | NON OH KAH–PEE–TOH LAH PAH–ROH–LAH |
| Cosa significa __________ | What does ________ mean? | COH–SAH SEEG–NEE–FEE-KAH |
For more handy phrases that will help you keep the conversation in Italian, check out this post: 8 basic phrases to help you get unstuck in Italian
Cultural Tip: Do Italians Say Capeesh?
Have you ever heard Italian Americans use the word capeesh ? Before learning Italian, Katie had heard this word a lot in movies and TV shows, so she assumed that capeesh was Italian for “understand”.
But it turns out, this isn’t standard Italian! In Standard Italian, we say:
Capisci? – Do you understand? (informal) KAH–PEESH–EE
Capisce? – Do you understand? (formal) KAH–PEESH–EH
Katie has a (non-scientific) theory about this difference. The Italian American capeesh is similar to the standard Italian words above, but it’s missing the last vowel. Dialects from the South of Italy, such as Neapolitan and Sicilian often cut the final vowel of certain words. Many of the Italians who immigrated to America came from the South, that might be how we ended up with capeesh in the US!
Understand in Italian: Review
You just learned lots of handy phrases with the word “understand” in Italian. Congratulazioni, these will help you communicate much more smoothly with Italians! Here’s a handy reference list of all the phrases:
Ho capito, grazie – I understood, thank you
Capito, grazie – Understood, thank you
Ho capito tutto – I understood everything
Scusi, non ho capito – Sorry, I didn’t understand (formal)
Scusa, non ho capito – Sorry, I didn’t understand (informal)
Non ho capito tutto – I didn’t understand everything
Ha capito? – Did you understand? (formal)
Hai capito? – Did you understand? (informal)
Capisco l’italiano – I understand Italian
Capisco un po’ di italiano – I understand a bit of Italian
Scusi, non capisco l’italiano – Sorry, I don’t understand Italian (formal)
Scusa, non capisco l’italiano – Sorry, I don’t understand Italian (informal)
And you also learned some handy phrases to stop Italians from switching to English if you didn’t understand what they said!
Piano, per favore – Slowly, please
Può ripetere, per favore? – Can you repeat please? (formal)
Puoi ripetere, per favore? – Can you repeat please? (informal)
C’è una parola che non ho capito – There’s a word I didn’t understand
Non ho capito la parola ________ – I didn’t understand the word ________
Cosa significa __________ – What does ________ mean?
Hai capito tutto? Did you understand everything? Try our quiz and vocabulary cards to find out!
K: Ciao a tutti e benvenuti! Hi everyone and welcome to “Learn Italian with Joy of Languages”.
M: Before we get started, if you’re listening to this on your podcast app could you do us un favore and hit the subscribe or follow button? This way you’ll get notified when we release a new episode and you’ll help our podcast grow so that we can keep making free lessons like this. Grazie!
K: Sorpresa! Surprise! Today we’re talking about food again. One of our favourite things to cook at home is pasta e fagioli, pasta and beans, or if you’re Italian American, or you know any, you might recognise the name in dialect: pasta e fasul!
M: It’s really easy to make, really inexpensive, and really delicious!
K: What does pasta e fagioli have to do with understanding Italian? Listen to the dialogue to find out!
M: Ho fame, faccio la pasta e fagioli?
K: Non ho capito
M: I’m hungry: shall I make pasta and beans?
K: Ma dai, capisco l’italiano!
M: Hai detto: non ho capito.
K: Eh, ma perché parli con una carota in bocca!
M: Va bene: parlo in italiano
K: Puoi ripetere, senza la carota?
[...]
M: Va bene! Parlo in italiano.
K: You may or may not know that to make many Italian dishes, we start with something called il soffritto, which is usually a mixture of very finely chopped onions, carrots and celery.
M: It’s the base for many of our sauces. Il soffritto (x2). And when you’re chopping carrots, it’s hard not to eat a bit at the same time!
K: That’s why Matteo has a carrot in his mouth for most of this conversation. The first thing he said was:
M: Ho fame, faccio la pasta e fagioli? – I’m hungry, shall I make pasta and beans?
Ho – I have
fame – hunger
Faccio – I make
La pasta – (the) pasta
E – and
Fagioli – beans
K: To say, “I’m hungry” in Italian, we literally say “I have hunger”. You can find out more about these kinds of expressions in episode 74. So Matteo said ho fame, I have hunger, but I didn’t hear him, because he has a carrot in his mouth! So I said:
M: Non ho capito – I didn’t understand
Non – not
Ho – I have
Capito – understood
K: An interesting thing about Italian is that we almost always use this expression in the past. Rather than saying “I understand” or “I don’t understand”, we say “I understood ” or “I didn’t understand”. This applies to all situations where we’re responding to what someone just said, to explain that we received, or didn’t receive the information. So again, I don’t understand, or “I didn’t understand” in Italian is:
M: Non ho capito (x2)
K: How would you say “I understood”?:
[...]
M: Ho capito (x2)
K: Then, Matteo repeats what he said in English.
M: I’m hungry: shall I make pasta and beans?
K: It’s so annoying when you get Englished, isn’t it? So I replied:
K: Ma dai, capisco l’italiano! – Come on, I understand Italian!
Ma dai – come on
capisco – I understand
L’italiano – Italian
K: Ma dai, is one of those funny little phrases that doesn’t translate exactly. It literally means “but” (ma) and “you give” (dai), spelt DAI not die as in DIE (I’m frustrated with Matteo, but not that frustrated!). All together, it means “come on!”, in this case, to show my exasperation. You can just learn the whole phrase: Ma dai! “Come on!”
In this sentence, you also heard “I understand Italian”:
M: Capisco l’italiano (x2)
K: This time, capisco is in the present. We use it in the present when we’re talking about a concept in general, like understanding another language, or maths, or being able to relate to another person’s point of view.
M: So to recap, ho capito (I understood), in the past shows that you’ve received the information that someone has just shared with you. Capisco (I understand) in the present, is for subjects and concepts in general.
K: The phrase capisco l’italiano, is useful for interacting with locals and encouraging them to speak with you in Italian. How would you say “I understand a bit of Italian”?
[...]
K: A bit of is un po’ di.
[...]
M: Capisco un po’ di italiano (x2)
K: Then Matteo said:
M: Hai detto: non ho capito. – You said: “I didn’t understand”
Hai – you have
Detto – said
Non – not
Ho – I have
Capito – understood
K: Matteo’s right. If you say non ho capito , you’re actually inviting Italians to switch to English. We can’t blame them, they see us struggling and they think they’re being helpful. That’s why you should be really careful with this phrase, because it always encourages Italians to reply to you in English.
M: If you want to keep the conversation in Italian, we need you to be more specific about how you want us to help, instead. We’ll show you how very soon!
K: Next, I said:
M: Eh, ma perché parli con una carota in bocca! – Eh, but because you’re speaking with a carrot in your mouth!
Ma – but
perché – because
Parli – you speak
Con – with
Una – a
carota – carrot
In – in
Bocca – mouth
K: And Matteo replies:
M: Va bene: parlo in italiano – OK, I’ll speak in Italian.
Va bene – ok
Parlo – I speak
In – in
Italiano – Italian
K: Then I asked:
M: Puoi ripetere, senza la carota? – Can you repeat, without the carot?
Puoi – you can
Ripetere – repeat
senza – without
la carota – the carrot?
K: Remember that to ask a question in Italian, we just say the sentence with a question tone. “You can repeat” as a statement is:
M: Puoi ripetere (x2)
K: Now as a question:
M: Puoi ripetere? (x2)
K: So here, we see that, if you want Italians to keep talking to you in Italian, it helps to be specific about the help you need, for example, do you want them to repeat what they said? You can ask “Can you repeat please”?
M: Puoi ripetere, per favore?
K: Or if you’re speaking to people in the service industry, it’s better to use the formal, “you can”, which is può (x2).
M: Può ripetere per favore? (x2)
K: You can also say “slowly, please”. Slowly is piano, spelt like the piano you play, and pronounced PYA–NOH.
M: Piano, per favore (x2)
K: Finally, Matteo says:
M: Va bene! Parlo in italiano – OK! I’ll speak in Italian
Va bene – OK
Parlo – I speak
In italiano – in Italian
K: Look, it works! Let’s listen to the dialogue again:
M: Ho fame, faccio la pasta e fagioli?
K: Non ho capito
M: I’m hungry: shall I make pasta and beans?
K: Ma dai, capisco l’italiano!
M: Hai detto: non ho capito.
K: Eh, ma perché parli con una carota in bocca!
M: Va bene: parlo in italiano
K: Puoi ripetere, senza la carota?
[...]
M: Va bene! Parlo in italiano.
K: Over on the blog, we have some more really useful phrases you can use to tell Italians what you understood, or didn’t understand and encourage them to keep the conversation in Italian.
M: You can also see everything written down, and get bonus materials, like vocabulary cards and a quiz.
K: Head over to our website by clicking on the link in the description, or you can go to italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast and search for episode 141.
M - See you next time.
K - Or as we say in Italian.
Alla prossima!
Time to check your understanding and remember everything you just learned! Below you’ll find a mini-quiz and some vocabulary cards to help it all go in.
Quiz
How much did you learn? Find out in the quiz!
Click here to take the quiz for this episode: Italian for UNDERSTAND
Vocabulary
Ho capito tutto = I understood everything
Non ho capito tutto = I didn’t understand everything
Scusi, non ho capito = Sorry, I didn’t understand (formal)
Scusa, non ho capito = Sorry, I didn’t understand (informal)
C’è una parola che non ho capito = There’s a word I didn’t understand
Non ho capito = I didn’t understand
Ho capito = I understood
Capisco l’italiano = I understand Italian
Capisco un po’ di italiano = I understand a bit of Italian
Piano, per favore = Slowly, please
Può ripetere, per favore? = Can you repeat, please? (formal)
Puoi ripetere, per favore? = Can you repeat, please? (informal)
Flashcards: Italian for UNDERSTAND
Not sure how it works? Click here to watch the tutorial
