Telling my landlord the hot water is broken: Explaining the problem

💬 perdone is the polite form you'd use with someone you call usted. With a friend it would be perdona.

🇪🇸 Opening with a little apology before bringing up a problem softens it. It's a common, friendly way to raise a complaint with a landlord.

💬 agua is feminine, so it takes caliente and fría. It still uses el instead of la (as in el agua) because it starts with a stressed a sound.

💬 hay means both "there is" and "there are", and no hay means "there's no". Swap in anything: no hay luz "there's no electricity".

🇪🇸 A very common Spanish reaction to mildly bad news. It sounds sympathetic without being dramatic.

💬 anoche is one word for "last night". Swap in other times: desde ayer "since yesterday", desde el lunes "since Monday".

💬 Spanish often puts the verb before the thing doing it: sale agua is literally "comes out water". Same pattern: sale humo "smoke is coming out".

🇪🇸 Many Spanish flats have their own gas or electric water heater in the kitchen or a utility cupboard. Expect to be asked about it first.

💬 alguna "any" changes to match the word after it: alguna luz, but algún problema "any problem".

💬 encendida ends in -a because it describes luz, which is feminine. For the heater, which is masculine, it becomes encendido.

💬 Use está for a temporary state like on or off: está apagado, está encendido. The -o ending matches el calentador.

💬 When the person receiving the action is a person, Spanish adds a before them: mandar a alguien, but mandar un paquete "send a package".

💬 ¿Puede...? followed by a basic verb is a handy, polite way to ask for something: ¿Puede venir hoy? "Can you come today?"

💬 mañana means "tomorrow", and la mañana means "the morning". So por la tarde gives you "tomorrow afternoon" in the same pattern: mañana por la tarde.

💬 Spanish often uses the present tense for planned future events: va is literally "goes", but here it means "will come".

🇪🇸 "Tomorrow morning" in Spain can mean anywhere up to about 2 pm. It's worth asking ¿a qué hora más o menos? "roughly what time?"

💬 le is the polite "you" here, used with someone you call usted. With a friend you'd say ¿te va bien?.

💬 hasta "until" works with any time: hasta luego "see you later", hasta el lunes "see you Monday".