Spanish for the Print Shop: Describing a Blurry Scan and Asking for a Better Copy
Learn to say a scan came out blurry in Spanish, point out which part is unclear, and politely ask staff to scan it again.
By TheaFirst conversations · Yapr Learn
At a neighborhood print shop, the most useful thing you can do is describe exactly what went wrong with your scan. In Spanish, the key word is borroso (blurry), and its opposite is nítido (sharp, clear). This lesson gives you short, polite patterns to say a scan came out blurry, to point out which part is unclear, and to ask staff to scan it again. You will practice the verb salir for how a result turns out, and the verb escanear for the action of scanning. The register is polite and problem-solving: you are not complaining, you are asking for a better copy.
By the end, you can…
- say that a scan came out blurry using salió borroso.
- point out which part of a scan is unclear.
- politely ask staff to scan something again.
- contrast borroso and nítido when describing a copy.
Listen once. Try it slowly. Then say it without looking.
Checking available voices…
Salió borroso.
It came out blurry.
sah-LYOH boh-RROH-soh
Use salió for one scan or one copy. For several pages, say salieron borrosos. The double r in borroso is a rolled sound.
¿Puede escanearlo de nuevo?
Can you scan it again?
PWEH-deh es-kah-neh-AR-loh deh NWEH-voh
Polite usted form, appropriate with staff you do not know. The pronoun lo attaches to the infinitive escanearlo, meaning 'to scan it'.
La parte de arriba está borrosa.
The top part is blurry.
lah PAR-teh deh ah-RREE-bah es-TAH boh-RROH-sah
Use está for a current condition. Change the adjective ending to match the noun: la parte está borrosa, el texto está borroso.
¿Me lo puede escanear más nítido?
Can you scan it for me more sharply?
meh loh PWEH-deh es-kah-neh-AR mas NEE-tee-doh
A natural request for a clearer result. Más nítido contrasts directly with borroso.
No se lee bien esta parte.
This part is not easy to read.
noh seh LEH-eh byehn ES-tah PAR-teh
Useful when the problem is readability rather than image quality. Se lee is the passive-like 'it reads' construction.
Pronunciation guides are approximate. Slow playback keeps the original pitch.
Make it make sense
Useful pattern
Use salir to talk about how a result turns out: Salió borroso (It came out blurry), Salió muy claro (It came out very clear), Salieron borrosas (They came out blurry, feminine plural). The adjective agrees with the thing you are describing: el escaneo salió borroso, la copia salió borrosa, las fotos salieron borrosas. To ask for a repeat, use poder plus an infinitive: ¿Puede escanearlo de nuevo? or ¿Puede hacer otra copia? The attached pronoun lo refers to the document or image.
When to use it
Start with Salió borroso to state the problem without blame. Then specify the location: en la esquina (in the corner), en el centro (in the center), en la parte de abajo (at the bottom). Finish with a polite request: ¿Puede escanearlo de nuevo, por favor? If only one area is bad, say Solo esta parte está borrosa, lo demás está bien. This keeps the conversation focused and easy for staff to act on.
Listen to each line, then take one part and reply out loud.
Buenos días. Escaneé este documento, pero salió borroso.
Good morning. I scanned this document, but it came out blurry.BWEH-nohs DEE-ahs es-kah-NEH es-teh doh-koo-MEN-toh PEH-roh sah-LYOH boh-RROH-soh¿Qué parte está borrosa?
Which part is blurry?keh PAR-teh es-TAH boh-RROH-sahLa parte de arriba. No se lee bien el texto pequeño.
The top part. The small text is not easy to read.lah PAR-teh deh ah-RREE-bah noh seh LEH-eh byehn el TEKS-toh peh-KEH-nyohClaro, lo escaneo de nuevo con más resolución.
Of course, I'll scan it again with more resolution.KLAH-roh loh es-KAH-neh-oh deh NWEH-voh kohn mas reh-soh-loo-SYOHNA little context goes a long way
In many neighborhood print shops, staff expect a short, concrete description rather than a long explanation. Using usted (¿Puede...?) is safe and polite with someone you do not know; in informal shops where staff are younger or you already know them, tú (¿Puedes...?) is common. Saying por favor at the end of a request sounds natural and not overly formal.
One thing to watch for
Saying Es borroso to describe the result of a scan.
Try this instead: Es borroso describes a general quality, but for a result that just came out, use salió: El escaneo salió borroso. If you want to describe the document itself, you can say El documento es borroso, but salió is more natural right after scanning.
Your turn
Try answering out loud before checking a possible answer.
1How do you say 'It came out blurry' about one scan?
Show a sample answer
Salió borroso.
Salió is the past form of salir used for how a result turned out, and borroso agrees with a masculine noun like escaneo. If you are talking about la copia, say Salió borrosa.
2You want staff to scan the page again. What polite question can you ask?
Show a sample answer
¿Puede escanearlo de nuevo?
This uses the polite usted form puede plus the infinitive escanearlo, with lo meaning 'it.' ¿Puede escanearlo otra vez? is also correct and equally natural.
3Only the bottom of the page is unclear. How can you say that?
Show a sample answer
La parte de abajo está borrosa.
Está is used for a temporary condition, and borrosa agrees with the feminine noun parte. You could also say No se lee bien la parte de abajo, which focuses on readability.
State the problem with Salió borroso, name the unclear part with está borroso or borrosa, and close with ¿Puede escanearlo de nuevo, por favor? That three-step pattern handles most scan problems politely.
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