Team meetings at work: Asking someone to repeat or clarify a point

💬 With können, the main verb wiederholen moves to the very end. Swap it out: Können Sie das bitte erklären? "Could you please explain that?"

🇩🇪 Asking for a repeat in a meeting is completely normal in Germany. Colleagues would usually rather repeat themselves than have you guess wrong.

💬 Projekt starts with a sound like English y: (pro-YEKT). German j always works this way, as in ja.

💬 After für, der and die stay the same, and der changes to den: für den Kunden "for the client".

💬 For dates, German uses am plus the ordinal number ending in -en: am zweiten Mai "on the second of May". In writing this is often shortened to am 1. März.

🇩🇪 Repeating back what you think you heard as a quick question is a common and efficient way to check details in a German meeting.

💬 Here schon means "already", meaning it is sooner than you thought. Often it simply adds emphasis, as in "it really is March".

💬 Kunde adds an -n in most other positions: mit dem Kunden, für den Kunden. The same thing happens with der Kollege → dem Kollegen.

💬 möchte is the polite "would like", and here it stands alone without a second verb. You can say Ich möchte es heute "I'd like it today".

💬 meinen means "to mean". It does not mean "my", even though it looks like meinen "my".

💬 To ask what a word means, use mit where English uses "by": Was meinen Sie mit Deadline?

🇩🇪 German offices use plenty of English buzzwords like Kick-off, and asking what one means is not embarrassing. Usage varies between companies.

💬 After mit, der becomes dem, and Kunde gains an -n. Same pattern: mit dem Chef "with the boss".

💬 klar is very common on its own as a quick "got it" or "sure". Alles klar alone also works as a casual "all good".

💬 gern is often written as gerne; both are fine. Many people also simply say Gern! on its own.

💬 noch here means "for the rest of it": have a nice day from now on. It also works for other times, as in Schönen Abend noch! "Have a nice evening!"

💬 Ihnen is the formal "to you". With friends you'd say dir auch!.