Telling my landlord the hot water is broken: Prior attemps to fix the problem

🇵🇹 Many Portuguese flats heat water with a gas esquentador that lights up when you open the hot tap. It's usually the first thing a landlord asks about.

🇵🇹 Many Portuguese flats heat water with an esquentador, a gas heater that fires up only when you open a hot tap. That's why turning it off and on is the first thing anyone tries.

💬 de + o becomes do, so it's a luz do esquentador, not de o. With a feminine word it's da: a luz da cozinha "the kitchen light".

💬 acender is "to light up" or "to switch on" for lights and flames. Don't confuse it with ascender "to rise". Both sound the same.

💬 A yes/no question keeps normal statement word order. Only your rising voice at the end makes it a question.

💬 Portuguese happily stacks negatives: não … nada means "not… at all", not a double negative cancelling out. Same pattern: não vejo nada "I don't see anything".

💬 verificou is the polite "you" form, the same as "he/she checked". That's why there's no word for "you" in the sentence.

🇵🇹 Many homes in Portugal run on bottled gas rather than mains gas. Tenants usually swap empty botijas themselves at a petrol station or local shop.

💬 vazia ends in -a because it describes a botija, a feminine word. For a masculine word it would be vazio: o depósito pode estar vazio "the tank might be empty".

💬 pode estar + description is a handy way to guess at a cause: pode estar avariado "it might be broken".

💬 trocar means "to swap" or "to exchange", which fits handing in an empty bottle for a full one. The "I" past form adds a u: troquei, so the c keeps its k sound.

💬 Times of day pair with de: hoje de manhã "this morning", ontem à noite "last night", amanhã de tarde "tomorrow afternoon".

💬 deve ser is for a confident guess, not an obligation. Deve estar fechado means "it must be closed".

💬 vou plus a basic verb means "I'm going to", just like English: vou ligar "I'm going to phone".

💬 Portuguese says técnico "technician" where English might say "repairman" or "engineer". It covers anyone who fixes appliances.

💬 Pode ser…? is an easy way to propose a time: Pode ser às dez? "Could it be at ten?". On its own, pode ser also means "sure, that works".

💬 amanhã means "tomorrow" and manhã means "morning", so watch the extra a. Both end in a nasal ã, said through the nose.

💬 para si is the polite "for you", used with people you'd address formally. With friends it would be para ti.

💬 Até + a time is the go-to goodbye: até logo "see you later", até segunda "see you Monday".