En resumen (the short version)
- Living in Spain needs different Spanish from a holiday: fewer menus, more phone calls, repairs and deliveries.
- Tú is the default in Spain. Use usted with older people you don't know and in formal offices, and start polite requests with Quería…
- Learn how to describe a problem at home, answer the intercom and read the signs on shop doors.
¡Hola aventurero!
Holiday Spanish gets you a café con leche and a table for two. Then you move here, and suddenly you need to explain to a stranger on the phone that your persiana (roller shutter) is stuck halfway down 🙈
That's what this post is for: the Spanish phrases for living in Spain. The ones you'll use every week once the holiday part is over.
I'm based in Granada, so these are the everyday situations of life here: the phone, the front door of the building, the counter at the ferretería (hardware shop).
Tú or usted?
The first thing to decide in a lot of conversations is how formal to be.
In Spain, tú is the default. Shop assistants, waiters, neighbours your age, colleagues, even your boss will usually say tú to you. Usted is kept for a few situations:
| Tú | Usted | |
|---|---|---|
| Who with | Friends, neighbours, colleagues, shop and bar staff, people your age | Older people you don't know, staff in government offices, formal phone calls |
| Example | ¿Tienes un momento? | ¿Tiene un momento? |
| And you? | ¿Y tú? | ¿Y usted? |
Teacher bit 🤓 Usted uses the same verb form as él and ella: tiene, not tienes. That's because it comes from vuestra merced ("your grace"), so grammatically you're talking about a third person. Over the centuries, vuestra merced got squashed into usted.
Not sure which one to use? Start with usted and listen to the reply. If the other person uses tú with you, you can switch. And if someone says Puedes tutearme (You can call me tú), take them up on it.
Asking politely: quería…
Living somewhere means asking for things all the time. And one little word makes all of it sound polite.
Instead of quiero (I want), say quería. It's the imperfect tense, so literally it means "I wanted". But in a request it works like "I'd like", and you'll hear it in every shop and office in Spain.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Quería pedir cita para el martes. | I'd like to make an appointment for Tuesday. |
| Quería información sobre… | I'd like some information about… |
| ¿Me podría decir…? | Could you tell me…? |
| ¿Sería posible cambiar la cita? | Would it be possible to change the appointment? |
| ¿Hay que traer algo? | Do I need to bring anything? |
| Llamaba por lo de… | I'm calling about… |
Podría and sería are the conditional, the "would" form. Together with quería and llamaba, they do most of the polite work in Spanish.
On the phone, you'll often hear ¿Dígame? when a business answers. That's your cue for Hola, buenos días. Llamaba por lo de la factura (Hello, good morning. I'm calling about the bill). There's more in Spanish phone call phrases ☎️
When something breaks at home
Something always breaks. Here's how to describe it to your landlord, the building or a repair person.
Spanish often describes breakages with se ha + a past participle: se ha roto (it's broken), se ha atascado (it's got stuck). Nobody broke it on purpose. It just… broke.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Se ha roto la persiana. | The roller shutter's broken. |
| No sale agua caliente. | There's no hot water. |
| Se ha ido la luz. | The power's gone off. |
| El grifo gotea. | The tap's dripping. |
| La lavadora hace un ruido raro. | The washing machine is making a weird noise. |
| Hay humedad en la pared. | There's damp on the wall. |
Then say since when, and ask when someone can come: Desde ayer no sale agua caliente. ¿Cuándo podría venir alguien? (There's been no hot water since yesterday. When could someone come?)
If you live in a block of flats, the building has a comunidad de vecinos: all the owners together, who pay for shared things like the lift and cleaning the stairs. Problems in shared areas, like the lift or the main door, go to them, often through an administrador de fincas (a property manager).
Still looking for a place? Have a look at the Spanish you'll need for house hunting in Spain.
The intercom and the deliveries
Most flats in Spain have a telefonillo (intercom) at the main door of the building, el portal. It buzzes, you pick it up, and someone talks very fast through a crackly speaker 📦
Good news: it's nearly always the same conversation.
Three things to steal from that: Te abro (I'll let you in), Ahora subo or Ahora bajo (I'm coming up / down now), and the floor: primero, segundo, tercero… plus a letter for your door.
The signs on every shop door
Here's a very Spanish moment. You walk to the shop at four in the afternoon, and it's closed. Not closed forever. Just closed until five 🙃
Smaller shops in Spain often close for a few hours in the middle of the day, especially outside the big cities. So it's worth reading what's on the door:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Horario: de 10 a 14 h y de 17 a 20:30 h | Opening hours: 10am to 2pm and 5pm to 8:30pm |
| Cerrado por vacaciones | Closed for the holidays |
| Festivos cerrado | Closed on public holidays |
| Horario de verano | Summer opening hours |
| Vado permanente | Garage entrance: no parking at any time |
| Se alquila / Se vende | For rent / For sale |
That vado permanente sign is worth remembering if you drive. Park in front of one and your car might get taken away by the grúa (tow truck).
And watch out for festivos: every region and town has its own public holidays on top of the national ones.
Signs and timetables in Spain use the 24-hour clock, but people don't say it that way. 17:00 h on the door becomes a las cinco de la tarde when you ask someone what time they open.
Your first step this week
Pick the situation you're dreading most
A call to your landlord, a repair, an appointment… Choose one that's coming up soon.
Write your first two lines
One line saying what you want, starting with Quería…, and one describing the problem or the details, like Se ha roto la persiana del salón. Say them out loud until they come out easily.
Get ready for the question they'll ask you
Think about what the other person will probably ask, like ¿Cuándo le viene bien? (When suits you?) or ¿Me da un número de teléfono? (Can you give me a phone number?), and have your answer ready.
Then go and have the conversation. It'll be messier than your notes, and that's completely normal 💛
Recap ✨
- In Spain, tú is the default. Use usted with older people you don't know and in formal offices, and follow the other person's lead.
- Start polite requests with Quería…, ¿Me podría…? or ¿Sería posible…?
- Describe problems at home with se ha roto, no sale or se ha ido, then say since when.
- At the intercom you'll hear ¿Quién es?, and you can answer with Te abro and Ahora bajo.
- Check the opening hours and festivos on shop doors, and never park in front of a vado.
If you've got a real conversation coming up, like a call with your landlord or an appointment you're nervous about, book a 1:1 session with me and we'll practise it together until it feels easy ☕ For the quick chats in queues and at the market, have a look at small talk in Spain.
Now I'm curious 👀 Which everyday situation in Spain makes you most nervous: the phone, the intercom or explaining a repair? Cuéntame in the comments!
Lucía ✨
Lucía · Linguist, translator, Spanish teacher and author of the Visual Spanish Grammar Book.
Come and learn Spanish with me and other aventureros like yourself at skool.com/learnspanish 🎉