你说什么 What Did You Say in Chinese

我wǒ和hé朋友péngyou在zài饭馆fànguǎn吃饭chīfàn，里面lǐmiàn的de人rén很多hěnduō，很hěn吵chǎo。

My friend and I are eating at a restaurant, and there are a lot of people inside — it's very noisy.

朋友péngyou跟gēn我wǒ说话shuōhuà，可是kěshì太tài吵chǎo，我wǒ没méi听tīng清楚qīngchu。

My friend is talking to me, but it's too noisy, and I don't hear him clearly.

我wǒ问wèn他tā：“你nǐ说shuō什么shénme？”

I ask him: "What did you say?"

朋友péngyou又yòu说shuō了le一次yí cì，可是kěshì我wǒ还是háishi没méi听tīng清楚qīngchu。

My friend says it again, but I still don't hear it clearly.

我们wǒmen走zǒu到dào饭馆fànguǎn外面wàimiàn，那儿nàr没有méiyǒu那么nàme多duō人rén。

We walk outside the restaurant, where there aren't as many people.

朋友péngyou又yòu说shuō了le一次yí cì，这次zhècì我wǒ听tīng清楚qīngchu了le：“我们wǒmen明天míngtiān去qù看kàn电影diànyǐng。”

My friend says it again, and this time I hear it clearly: "We're going to watch a movie tomorrow."

🔊 Audio uses your device's Chinese voice for now — teacher recordings are coming. Tap any word to see its meaning.

Key words 生词

吵chǎonoisy

清楚qīngchuclear; clearly

说话shuōhuàto speak; to talk

又yòuagain (already happened)

外面wàimiànoutside

电影diànyǐngmovie

你说什么？（asking someone to repeat what they said）

Use 你说什么？when you didn't catch the words themselves — different from 听不懂, which means you heard the words but didn't understand the meaning.

我问他：“你说什么？”— I ask him: "What did you say?"

没听清楚（didn't hear clearly）

清楚 means clear; 没听清楚 says the sound itself wasn't clear enough (too noisy, too far away) — not that the meaning was hard to understand.

太吵，我没听清楚。— It was too noisy, and I didn't hear clearly.

又 + verb（doing something again — already happened）

又 describes a repeat of an action that has already taken place, unlike 再 which is for something not yet done.

朋友又说了一次。— My friend said it again.

1. Why can't the narrator hear the friend clearly at first?

2. What does the narrator say when they don't catch the words?

3. What are the friend and narrator going to do tomorrow, according to what the narrator finally hears?

After this reading

I'm Fei, and I teach Mandarin one-on-one on Preply. Bring this text to a trial lesson — we'll fix your tones and turn it into a real conversation.