My laptop has broken down in Spanish
At the repair shop: symptoms, the estimate and the deadline in Spanish. 8 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Buenas, se me ha estropeado el portátil y no sé qué le pasa.» — Hi, my laptop has broken down and I don't know what's wrong with it. Every line can be played right on the page. The conversation is predictable: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: at the repair shop: symptoms, the estimate and the deadline. The conversation is short and predictable — which is exactly what makes it good for a first try: few lines, and almost all of them repeat from one exchange to the next.
- Buenas, se me ha estropeado el portátil y no sé qué le pasa.Hi, my laptop has broken down and I don't know what's wrong with it.
- Cuénteme los síntomas. ¿Se cuelga, se calienta, hace ruido?Tell me the symptoms. Does it freeze, does it get hot, does it make noise?
- Las tres cosas. Y además la luz de la batería parpadea en naranja.All three. And besides, the battery light is blinking orange.
- Entonces puede ser el cargador. ¿Ha probado a revisar los cables?Then it could be the charger. Have you tried checking the cables?
- He probado con otro cable y tampoco se carga.I tried another cable and it still does not charge.
- Le hacemos un diagnóstico. Son treinta euros, y se descuentan si repara.We run a diagnostic for you. It's thirty euros, deducted if you have it repaired.
- ¿Y cuál sería el plazo de reparación?And how long would the repair take?
- Una semana, si hay repuesto. Si no lo hay, puede que no tenga arreglo.A week, if there is a spare part. If not, it may be beyond repair.
Lines one by one
| Spanish | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Buenas, se me ha estropeado el portátil y no sé qué le pasa. | — | Hi, my laptop has broken down and I don't know what's wrong with it. |
| Cuénteme los síntomas. ¿Se cuelga, se calienta, hace ruido? | — | Tell me the symptoms. Does it freeze, does it get hot, does it make noise? |
| Las tres cosas. Y además la luz de la batería parpadea en naranja. | — | All three. And besides, the battery light is blinking orange. |
| Entonces puede ser el cargador. ¿Ha probado a revisar los cables? | — | Then it could be the charger. Have you tried checking the cables? |
| He probado con otro cable y tampoco se carga. | — | I tried another cable and it still does not charge. |
| Le hacemos un diagnóstico. Son treinta euros, y se descuentan si repara. | — | We run a diagnostic for you. It's thirty euros, deducted if you have it repaired. |
| ¿Y cuál sería el plazo de reparación? | — | And how long would the repair take? |
| Una semana, si hay repuesto. Si no lo hay, puede que no tenga arreglo. | — | A week, if there is a spare part. If not, it may be beyond repair. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and it gets in the way badly. It is one of the most reliably measured findings in the entire field.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Spanish in this situation?
“Buenas, se me ha estropeado el portátil y no sé qué le pasa.” — Hi, my laptop has broken down and I don't know what's wrong with it.. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.