Phone English: What to Say When You Miss a Time, Number or Name

Your appointment is Thursday at four-fifteen. Now say it fast, on a weak line, with a bus passing outside. For many learners it reaches the notebook as four-fifty, and nobody on the call has noticed. The gap is thirty-five minutes.

This page is about that one missing detail. Most phone calls are not lost because you understood nothing. They go wrong because you understood almost everything, and the one thing you did not catch was the time, the number or the name you needed. Paul and Emily practise the repair in a podcast episode on phone English, and the lines in quotation marks below come from it. Anything marked written for this page is added here and is not from the episode.

If you want the general phrases for asking someone to say something again, face to face as well as on the phone, they are in How to Ask Someone to Say It Again in English. This page is narrower: it sorts the phone problems by what went missing and gives one line for each.

Pick the line by what is missing

The question you need depends on what you have in your head, not on how nervous you feel.

What you have	What you say	Example from the episode
You think you caught it, but you are not sure	Did you say ___?	“Did you say two-thirty?” (00:21)
You caught the topic and lost one detail	Sorry, I missed the ___. Could you repeat it?	“Sorry, I missed the room number.” (04:01)
You hear a name or street, and you cannot write it	Could you spell that, please?	“Could you spell that, please?” (05:17)
The whole sentence disappeared	Sorry, could you say that again, please?	“Sorry, could you say that again, please?” (00:13)
The first repeat did not solve it	Sorry, was that ___?	“Sorry, was that five-one-eight-seven?” (10:06)
You have it, and you want to be sure	So that’s ___, right?	“So that’s B14, right?” (04:11)
You are finished	Thanks, I’ve got it.	“Thanks, I’ve got it.” (04:56)

Paul’s reason for having a table like this at all is practical: “You don’t need a perfect phone call.” (01:05) “You need a way to repair the detail that matters.” (01:07)

Numbers that sound close: say your guess, not “what?”

The episode keeps returning to the same kind of trouble, a pair of numbers that sit very near each other on a phone.

What was said	What can be heard	What fixed it
two-thirty	three-thirty	“Did you say two-thirty?” (00:21)
four-fifteen	four-fifty	“Did you say four-fifteen?” (07:05)
six-fifty	six-fifteen	“Did you say six-fifteen?” (13:47)
four-forty	four-fourteen	“Did you say four-fourteen?” (22:01)
B14	B40	“Suppose I heard B40.” (03:51)

The reason Did you say…? works so well is that it gives the speaker an easy job. Emily explains it: “That gives the speaker a very easy answer.” (07:09) The answer is either “Yes, that’s right,” (02:16) or a correction such as “No, four-forty.” (22:04) You do not need the speaker to start from the beginning. In Paul’s words, “Maybe you heard ninety percent of the message.” (02:46)

Two habits make the question easier to hear. The first is to say the whole phrase instead of a single word. Emily’s example is “Did you say Barton Street?” (14:51) and the reason she gives is “A complete confirmation question is easier to understand.” (14:55) The second is to include the day when the day matters, as in the quiz question “Did you say Tuesday at nine?” (19:26) Written for this page: a number alone, such as fifty?, leaves the listener to guess what you are checking, and a full phrase with the day or the room does not.

The risky move is the opposite one, writing down what you think you heard. Emily describes it: “I think I heard six-fifteen, and I just write six-fifteen.” (13:38) Paul’s reaction is “That’s the risky one.” (13:44) And the principle behind the whole section: “And if the detail changes the plan, check it.” (15:07)

A name you can hear but cannot write

Some details cannot be repeated into your ear, because repeating the same sound does not help. For those, ask for letters. Emily puts the problem clearly: “Someone says a street name, and I hear a sound, but I have no idea how to write it.” (05:10) The line she uses is “Could you spell that, please?” (05:17)

The sequence in the episode has three beats. Paul says “The office is on Barton Street.” (05:25) Emily asks for the spelling, Paul gives “B-A-R-T-O-N.” (05:32) and Emily does not stop at the letters. She says the whole name back: “So that’s Barton Street, right?” (05:39) That last beat is the one learners skip. The letters prove you wrote something. Saying the word back proves you wrote the right street.

In the longer call, the request also repeats the name: “Could you spell Mercer, please?” (22:17) Written for this page: if you are sure of every letter but one, narrow the request the way the episode narrows a number. Ask Sorry, was the second letter A? instead of asking for the whole spelling again.

One piece of a long message

The episode has a message that is long on purpose: “The class starts at nine, please use the side entrance, and ask for Maria at reception.” (13:12) Suppose you caught the time and the entrance and lost only the name. There are two ways to ask.

The weak way is “Can you repeat everything?” (13:21) Paul says why it hurts: “That creates unnecessary work.” (13:24) The stronger way is “Sorry, could you repeat the name, please?” (13:27) because the caller knows at once which part of the message to say again.

So name the missing piece with the same noun the speaker used: the time, the room number, the address, the name. The episode’s own short models are “Sorry, I missed the time.” (06:08) and “Could you repeat the room number?” (06:11) Emily’s summary is “Better to name the small problem.” (06:04)

Two things to leave out. One is a stack of apologies. Emily admits she sometimes wants to say “Sorry, sorry, sorry, my English is not good, I don’t understand, can you please…” (05:52) and Paul tells her it “usually adds work when the problem is actually small.” (05:59) The other is an explanation nobody asked for. When the line really is bad, one sentence is fine: “Sorry, the line is a little unclear. Could you say the time again?” (14:06) But Paul’s limit is “A clean request is enough.” (14:17)

The repeat that still does not work

Sometimes the first repeat does not fix it. Paul’s example: “The reference number is 5187.” (09:45) Emily asks him to say it again, hears “five-one-eight… something,” and has to decide whether she is allowed to ask a second time. She is. In Paul’s words, “There’s no one question limit.” (10:15)

What changes the second time is the question. It gets smaller, because you now know more. “Sorry, was that five-one-eight-seven?” (10:06) is easier to answer than a second “say that again.” Paul’s next step is smaller still: “Sorry, was the last number seven?” (10:37) and his explanation is “Now the other person only has to give you one piece.” (10:43)

A call where the facts change after you confirm

One more thing the table cannot show you: sometimes the information changes after you have checked it. In the store-pickup call Emily confirms “Friday at five-thirty,” hears “Yes,” and then Paul stops: “Actually, let me check that.” (16:16) The deadline is “four-thirty, not five-thirty.” (16:26) Emily’s answer replaces the old time and says only the new one: “So Friday at four-thirty, right?” (16:31)

Paul’s comment is the reminder for any call: “Which is why confirmation is not a magic final step.” (16:51) Written for this page: when a time is still moving, write it down last. A time that is in your notebook too early is a time you may forget to cross out. For a longer plan that keeps changing, see How to Follow a Changing Plan in English and Check What You Heard.

A whole call, start to finish

Written for this page, using the episode’s lines. A clinic receptionist is returning your call about a Thursday appointment. Read the You lines aloud, and cover the other side with your hand.

You: Hello, I’m calling about my appointment on Thursday.
Receptionist: Yes, you’re at four-fifteen with Dr. Okafor, on the second floor.
You: Sorry, could you say the time again, please?
Receptionist: Four-fifteen.
You: Did you say four-fifteen?
Receptionist: Yes, that’s right.
You: And could you spell the doctor’s name, please?
Receptionist: O-K-A-F-O-R.
You: So that’s Dr. Okafor, right?
Receptionist: That’s right. Oh, one moment. The doctor is running late, so please come at four-thirty instead.
You: I see. So Thursday at four-thirty, right?
Receptionist: Yes, four-thirty.
You: Thanks, I’ve got it.

Count what happened. The time was repaired and then checked. The name was spelled and then said back. The plan changed once, and the new time replaced the old one. The call closed with the line that tells the other person the problem is solved. Paul says of that last line, “It signals that the information problem is solved.” (05:02)

Ten missing details, ten lines

For each situation, say the line you would use. Then check the answers.

1. You were told three things and only missed the room number.
2. You think the caller said “Tuesday at nine,” but you are not certain.
3. You hear a street name and cannot write it.
4. You asked once, and you still hear “five-one-eight… something.”
5. The line is bad and the whole sentence blurred.
6. The caller said five-thirty and then corrected it to four-thirty.
7. You have the room number, and you want to be sure before you write it.
8. You said “What?” on a service call. Rewrite it.
9. You said “Can you repeat everything?” and only the name was missing. Rewrite it.
10. You are finished, and you have every detail you need.

Answers

1. “Sorry, I missed the room number. Could you repeat just the room number?” (04:01)
2. “Did you say Tuesday at nine?” (19:26)
3. “Could you spell that, please?” (05:17)
4. A narrower second request: “Sorry, was that five-one-eight-seven?” (10:06)
5. “Sorry, could you say that again, please?” (00:13) Or, when you want to name the problem, “Sorry, the line is a little unclear. Could you say the time again?” (14:06)
6. “So that’s four-thirty, right?” (19:48)
7. “So that’s B14, right?” (04:11)
8. “Sorry, could you repeat the time, please?” (06:33) Paul’s reason is that “the complete request is clearer and easier for the other person to act on.” (06:52)
9. “Sorry, could you repeat the name, please?” (13:27)
10. “Thanks, I’ve got it.” (04:56)

Your sixty seconds

Pick a place you might really call: a class, a clinic, a repair shop, a hotel. Make up two details you did not catch, such as a start time and a room name, and say the whole call aloud. The episode’s challenge is to give yourself “around forty-five to seventy-five seconds.” (20:26) Your call should ask for the first detail, check it with Did you say…?, ask for the second detail (with Could you spell that, please? if it is a name), check that one with So that’s…, right?, and end with Thanks, I’ve got it. If your first version used Could you say that again? for everything, record it a second time and name the detail each time. Emily’s retry challenge is “make your second version more specific.” (23:10)

The kit in one box

• Say why you are calling first, so the other person knows the topic.
• Almost caught it: Did you say ___? with the whole phrase and the day.
• Caught the topic, lost a detail: Sorry, I missed the ___. Could you repeat it?
• Cannot write it: Could you spell that, please? Then say the word back.
• Still not clear: ask again, and make the question smaller (Sorry, was the last number seven?).
• Check the final version: So that’s ___, right? Then keep listening, because the facts can still change.
• Close with Thanks, I’ve got it.

Hear it in a real conversation

Want to hear Emily’s photography workshop call, the lamp pickup that changes at the end and the language-exchange call from start to finish? Go to the Show Note for the episode: English on the Phone: Ask Someone to Repeat and Confirm Information. It follows the video chapter by chapter, with questions and answers for each one.