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

💬 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".

💬 壞了 means something has broken and is now not working. The 了 marks that change. You can swap in other appliances, like 冷氣壞了 "the air conditioner is broken".

🇹🇼 Many Taiwanese apartments heat water with a gas heater that hangs on the balcony. When there's no hot water, the landlord will often ask whether the gas has run out before calling anyone.

🇹🇼 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.

💬 水電 literally means "water and electricity". A 水電師傅 fixes both plumbing and wiring, so in Taiwan this is the word for either a plumber or an electrician.

🇹🇼 師傅 (shī fù) is the respectful way to address any skilled tradesperson, and you can say it directly to them: 師傅，你好.

💬 Saying a verb twice softens it into "have a quick go": 看看 means "take a look". You can do the same with 試試 "give it a try".

💬 Here 請 doesn't mean "please". It means "get someone to do something", following the pattern 請 + person + action.

💬 Question words stay where the answer would go, so 什麼時候 sits right before the verb, just like 昨天晚上 does in the reply.

💬 The question word 什麼時候 "when" stays where the time would go in the answer, before the verb. It doesn't move to the front like "when" does in English.

💬 For two o'clock, use 兩 (liǎng) and not 二. The same goes for counting two of something: 兩個.

💬 Times go from biggest to smallest: day, then part of day, then hour. 下午 "afternoon" comes before 兩點, and the whole time phrase usually sits before the verb.

💬 Adding 嗎 to the end of a statement turns it into a yes/no question, with no change in word order.

💬 要 can mean "have to" as well as "want to", and context tells you which one. 上班 means "go to work" or "be at work".

💬 The time can go at the very front, before 我, when it's the main point of the sentence. Both 兩點我要上班 and 我兩點要上班 are correct.

💬 一點 after an adjective means "a bit more": 晚一點 is "a bit later" and 早一點 is "a bit earlier". Here 一 is read (yì), because a following third-tone 點 changes its tone.

💬 Add 可以嗎？ after any suggestion to ask whether it works: 明天可以嗎？ "Is tomorrow OK?"

💬 那 at the start of a sentence means "in that case" or "then". It's a handy way to offer a different option.

💬 在 works here as a verb meaning "to be at", so 在家 means "be at home" with no other verb needed. Compare 我在公司 "I'm at the office".

💬 費 at the end of a word means "fee". You'll also see it in 電費 "electricity bill", 水費 "water bill" and 管理費 "building management fee".

💬 我來 + a verb doesn't mean "I come". It means "I'll take care of it": 我來付 is "I'll pay" and 我來做 is "I'll do it".

💬 The thing being talked about, 修理費, is put first as the topic, and then comes who does what. This front-loading is very common in everyday speech.

🇹🇼 In Taiwan, repairs to built-in fixtures like the water heater are normally the landlord's responsibility. Hearing this offer is typical, but it's worth checking your lease.

💬 不用 + a verb means "no need to". For example, 不用謝 means "no need to thank me".

💬 太 + adjective + 了 is the pattern for strong reactions: 太好了 "great!" and 太貴了 "too expensive!".

🇹🇼 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".

💬 會 is read (huì), and 不 keeps its tone of (bú) here because a falling tone follows it.

🇹🇼 不會啦 is a very Taiwanese way to brush off thanks or apologies, something like "oh, not at all". The 啦 makes it sound warm and casual.

💬 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".