Telling my landlord the hot water is broken: Scheduling a plumber for repair

💬 Voy a plus a basic verb form is the everyday way to talk about what you're about to do. Swap the verb to get voy a escribir "I'm going to write" or voy a mirar "I'm going to look".

💬 Fontanero is the word used in Spain. In much of Latin America you'd hear plomero instead.

💬 Polite "you" (usted) uses the same verb form as "he" or "she", so sabe can mean "you know" or "he knows". Context tells you which one is meant.

💬 Cuándo takes an accent when it asks a question, even inside a longer sentence. Without the accent, cuando just means "when" in a statement.

💬 Soler plus a basic verb form means "usually do". English has no single verb for this, so it's handy to learn the pattern: suelo trabajar en casa "I usually work from home".

💬 Literally this means "does it come well to you?": the time is what suits the person. With a friend, le becomes te: ¿te viene bien?

💬 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.

💬 Mañana means both "tomorrow" and "morning", which is why it appears twice here. You can build other times the same way: mañana por la tarde "tomorrow afternoon".

💬 En casa means your own home, with no "the" or "my" needed. Use a casa for going home: voy a casa "I'm going home".

💬 Clock times take las because the word for "hours" is understood: a las doce "at twelve". The exception is one o'clock, which takes la: hasta la una "until one".

💬 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".

💬 The same little word le points to two different people here: first the plumber ("him"), then the tenant ("you"). Spanish leaves context to sort out who's who.

🇪🇸 vale is the go-to "okay" in Spain, used constantly. It marks you as Spain-based; Latin Americans tend to say bueno or ok.

🇪🇸 Vale is Spain's all-purpose "okay", and you'll hear it constantly. Pairing it with muy amable is a warm but still polite way to thank a landlord.

🇪🇸 In Spain hasta luego is the standard goodbye even if you won't see the person again soon. It works fine to end a call with your landlord.