How to Say ‘Please speak slowly.’ in Japanese
ゆっくり話してください。
yukkuri hanashi te kudasai
[yook-koo-ree hah-nah-shee teh koo-dah-sigh]
💬 Usage Tip: [〜てください] is a very common way to ask someone to do something, so [話してください] is "please speak." Put an adverb before the verb to change how: [ゆっくり話してください], [もう一度話してください].
Phrase Breakdown
ゆっくり
yukkuri
[yook-koo-ree]
slowly
An adverb meaning slowly. Useful when listening is difficult.
ゆっくり話してください、わかりません。
Please speak slowly, I don’t understand.
話し
hanashi
[hah-nah-shee]
speak
The verb stem of 話す, to speak. It connects to て-form here.
ゆっくり話してください、日本語は難しいです。
Please speak slowly; Japanese is difficult.
て
te
[teh]
te-form ending
Connects the verb to ください to make a polite request.
ゆっくり話してください、メモします。
Please speak slowly; I’ll take notes.
ください
kudasai
[koo-dah-sigh]
please
Used after a verb in て-form to make a polite request.
もう少しゆっくり話してください。
Please speak a little more slowly.
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