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

💬 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".

💬 Spanish uses the present tense with desde where English says "has been": no hay agua desde ayer. Same pattern: vivo aquí desde marzo "I've lived here since March".

💬 Spanish uses the plain present with desde where English says "has been": no hay "there isn't". Swap it: Vivo aquí desde marzo "I've lived here since March".

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

💬 Ha is the polite "you" form, the one that goes with usted. To a friend it would be ¿Has mirado?.

💬 The c in calentador is a hard k sound, because it comes before a; only before e or i does c become (th).

💬 mirar "to look" doubles as "to check" here. ¿Ha mirado los plomos? works the same way.

💬 lo "it" goes before he, never after it. Same pattern: lo he visto "I've seen it".

💬 In Spain the c before e is said like English th: (en-then-DEE-doh).

💬 In Spain, he apagado is normal for something done today or very recently. Much of Latin America would say lo apagué instead.

💬 Here nada means "no result, it didn't work". It's a very common way to end a list of things you tried.

💬 In Spain la luz also means the electricity supply. la factura de la luz is "the electricity bill".

💬 de + el always merges into del: la luz del calentador. Likewise a + el becomes al.

💬 encendida ends in -a because it describes la luz. For the heater itself you'd say está encendido.

💬 To say something is on or off, use está, not es, because it's a temporary state. Swap in rota "broken" the same way: está rota.

💬 plomos literally means "leads", from old lead fuses. It's everyday Spain usage: han saltado los plomos "the fuses have blown".

💬 ha is the formal "you have", the same form as "he/she has". With a friend it would be ¿has probado?.

💬 probar means both "to try" and "to taste". ¿Has probado la paella? means "Have you tried the paella?".

💬 vez becomes veces in the plural, with z switching to c. Both are said with (th): (BEH-thes).

💬 vez "time" becomes veces in the plural, so the z switches to c. Same with luz "light" and luces "lights".

💬 Spanish puts a before a person receiving the action, which English doesn't do. With a thing it disappears: mandar un paquete "send a parcel".

🇪🇸 In Spain the landlord normally arranges and pays for repairs to the water heater in a rented flat. Asking them to send someone is expected, not cheeky.

💬 Spanish often uses the plain present tense for a promise about the near future. Le llamo reads as "I'll call him", just as te escribo means "I'll write to you".

🇪🇸 In Spain la tarde stretches until about 8 or 9 pm. So a call "this afternoon" might come well into the evening.

💬 Spanish often uses the plain present for a promise about the near future: le llamo "I'll call you". le is the formal "you" here.