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

💬 了 here shows a change has happened: it used to work and now it's broken. The same pattern works with 手機壞了 "my phone broke".

💬 都 before 沒有 stresses "none at all", not "all". It is the same move as 都沒有人 "nobody at all".

💬 器 (qì) at the end turns a thing into the device that handles it: 熱水器 is a hot-water device. Compare 電熱水器 "electric water heater".

💬 In Taiwan people often put 有 before an action to ask or say whether it happened: 你有吃過嗎 "have you eaten it before?". 過 after the verb marks that it has been done at some point.

💬 Here 重 is read (chóng) and means "again", not (zhòng) "heavy". You'll hear the same reading in 重新 (chóng xīn) "anew".

💬 掉 after an action means it is done completely, gone or off. Other examples are 丟掉 "throw away" and 吃掉 "eat up".

💬 In a statement, 還是 means "still". In a question it means "or", as in 茶還是咖啡 "tea or coffee". 不行 is the everyday way to say something doesn't work.

💬 瓦斯 (wǎ sī) is the Taiwan word for gas, borrowed through Japanese. On the mainland you'd hear 煤氣 or 天然氣 instead.

💬 Saying a word, then 沒, then the word again turns it into a yes-or-no question, with no 嗎 needed. Another example is 有沒有熱水 "is there hot water?".

🇹🇼 Many Taiwan apartments use a gas water heater mounted on the balcony, with a gas valve or tank nearby. Checking that the valve is open is the first thing a landlord will ask about.

🇹🇼 Gas water heaters in Taiwan often use large D-size batteries to spark the flame. Dead batteries are a very common reason the hot water stops.

💬 換 means swap one thing for another, so 換電池 covers "replace the batteries" without needing a separate word for "new". 了 marks that it's already done.

💬 Put 壞了 after a thing to say it's broken: 冷氣壞了 "the AC is broken". The 了 signals that its condition has changed.

💬 可以麻煩您 + an action + 嗎 is a polite frame for asking a favor. You can slot in any action, as in 可以麻煩您幫我看一下嗎 "could you take a look for me?".

💬 來 before an action means "come here to do it". Compare 來修 "come and fix" with 去修 "go and fix".

🇹🇼 In Taiwan, landlords usually arrange and pay for repairs to fixtures like water heaters. Asking them to send someone is normal and not pushy.

🇹🇼 師傅 is a respectful way to address any skilled tradesperson, such as a plumber, electrician or even a taxi driver. Calling the repairman this to his face is polite and expected.

🇹🇼 This mixes thanks and apology for the effort you've caused. It's the natural way to close a request to a landlord, more fitting here than a plain 謝謝 "thank you".

💬 不會 (bú huì) means "not at all" here, as a reply to thanks or an apology. Note that 不 changes to (bú) before the falling tone of 會 (huì).

🇹🇼 Taiwanese people often answer 謝謝 "thank you" with 不會, where mainlanders tend to say 不客氣 "you're welcome".

💬 Chinese often leaves out "if": the condition 有問題 simply comes first, and the result follows.

💬 The person you're telling goes before 說, marked with 跟. Another example is 跟老闆說 "tell the boss".

💬 Here 再 means "then, at that point" rather than "again", so the sense is "if there's a problem, let me know then". You'll hear the same use in 吃完再走 "eat first, then go".