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

🇮🇹 Many Italian offices use tu between colleagues, even across ages, so Scusa and puoi are normal here. With a senior manager or an outside client, start with Scusi and può until they invite tu.

💬 venti "twenty" and trenta "thirty" sound alike in a quick meeting, which is a common reason to ask for a date again. Italians often add non il trenta like this to rule out the mix-up.

🇮🇹 English work words like report, meeting and deadline are common in Italian offices. They are said with an Italian accent and usually take il.

💬 Lo "it" goes before the verb, and putting Giulia at the end puts the stress on who is doing it. For a feminine word you'd use la: La scrive Giulia "Giulia is writing it".

💬 Italian normally puts il before tuo or mio: il tuo aiuto, literally "the your help". The same goes for il mio computer "my computer".

💬 Italian uses the past here, non ho capito, where English might say "I don't understand". Adding bene softens it to "not quite".

🇮🇹 This is the standard, polite way to admit you missed something in a meeting. Nobody will think twice about it.

💬 Repeating someone's words back as a question, with mio in place of tuo, is a natural way to check you heard right. A rising tone is all that makes it a question.

💬 fai comes from fare, which covers both "do" and "make". For example, fare un caffè means "make a coffee".

💬 lei here means "she", but the same word with a capital, Lei, is the formal "you". The verb form is the same for both, so the situation tells you which one is meant.

💬 è with an accent means "is". Without the accent, e means "and", so the mark matters when you write it.

🇮🇹 The warm, informal reply to grazie between colleagues on tu terms. With someone you address formally, say Si figuri!.

💬 sentirsi literally means "to hear each other", but Ci sentiamo is used for catching up later, often by phone or message. It doesn't have to be face to face.

🇮🇹 Suggesting a quick follow-up after the meeting is a friendly way to sort out details without holding up the whole group.

💬 A plus a time word makes a quick goodbye. Other examples are A domani! "See you tomorrow!" and A presto! "See you soon!"