Sorry, I'm not sure I follow
Neutral Polite
What it really means
A face-saving way to admit you do not understand. Softer than "I don't understand". British classrooms respect honesty about confusion — pretending to understand causes bigger problems later.
Chinese explanation
承认自己没听懂的体面说法，比 "I don't understand" 委婉。英国课堂尊重坦诚说不懂的人——不懂装懂以后麻烦更大。
Example conversation
A: So the elasticity flips the sign of the effect.
B: Sorry, I'm not sure I follow — could you show that step again?
A：所以弹性会改变效应的符号。
B：不好意思，我没太跟上——那一步能再演示一遍吗？
What you could say back
No spoken reply needed for this one.
Related phrases
Official sources
Rules and amounts change — confirm important details with the official source.
Go deeper
All University Words
Reviewed by the UK Decoded editorial team
· Last checked 24 July 2026 · Report a mistake