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How to Say ‘Can I bother you for a moment?’ in Italian

Posso disturbarti un attimo?

POHS-soh dee-stoor-BAR-tee oon AHT-tee-moh

[POHS-soh dee-stoor-BAR-tee oon AHT-tee-moh]

💬 Usage Tip: ti "you" attaches to the end of disturbare "to bother", which drops its final e: disturbarti. Same pattern: posso aiutarti? "can I help you?".

Phrase Breakdown

Posso disturbarti

POHS-soh dee-stoor-BAR-tee

Can I bother you

'Posso' means 'can I', with a double 's'. In 'disturbarti', 'ti' means 'you' and attaches to the verb: dee-stoor-BAR-tee.

Example

Posso aiutarti?

Can I help you?

Words in this phrase

Posso

[POHS-soh]

I can

First-person singular of potere; expresses ability or possibility.

Example

Posso aiutarti dopo l'evento.

I can help you after the event.

disturbarti

[dee-stoor-BAR-tee]

to disturb you

Verb 'disturbare' (to bother) plus 'ti' (you), informal.

Example

Non voglio disturbarti.

I don't want to bother you.

un attimo?

oon AHT-tee-moh

for a moment?

Link 'un' and 'attimo' together. 'Attimo' is stressed on the first syllable: AT-ti-mo.

Example

Aspetta un attimo.

Wait a moment.

Words in this phrase

[oon]

a / an

An indefinite article meaning 'a' before a masculine singular noun.

Example

È stato un incontro molto utile.

It was a very useful meeting.

attimo

[AHT-tee-moh]

moment

A very short amount of time; 'un attimo' means 'a moment'.

Example

Aspetta un attimo, per favore.

Wait a moment, please.

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