Spanish phrases for a landlord visit, with a door-step script.

Four lines get you through the door.

Read the Spanish column aloud twice before you look at the notes. The lines are short on purpose: at a doorway you get one breath per sentence.

Soy… comes from ser, the verb for who you are. Say your own name after it. If you add what you are, the noun follows your gender: el nuevo inquilino (male tenant) or la nueva inquilina (female tenant).

Sí, el departamento es mío. answers ¿Es este su departamento? in the everyday sense of “this is my place”. To be exact that you rent it, say Sí, soy el inquilino. In Mexico City, departamento is the usual word for a flat (depa is the friendly short form); apartamento is understood, but what you will hear is departamento. El dueño is the everyday word for the owner; el arrendador is the formal one.

¿Me da la llave, por favor? is the request you came for. Da is the usted form of dar; with a friend you would say ¿Me das la llave? The key is feminine: la llave, las llaves.

Use usted. Here is what it changes.

Usted is the polite “you”, and it takes third-person verbs: ¿Es usted el nuevo inquilino? — es, not eres. The RAE’s Diccionario panhispánico de dudas describes usted as the form used in the educated norm of both Spain and America for formal treatment, carrying a degree of distance, courtesy and formality. At a door, that is the tone you want.

The same entry notes that ustedes is the only plural form used across the Americas, for formal and informal address alike: with a couple at the door, ¿Son ustedes los nuevos inquilinos? The possessive stays su — Aquí tiene su llave.

The familiar column is the one the free plan uses in its Day 1 greetings; the polite column is the one for the door. For a woman, el inquilino becomes la inquilina.

Run the whole exchange once.

Read it twice: once as yourself, once as the landlord. If you are alone, cover the reply, say your line aloud, then uncover and answer.

An illustrative practice dialogue written for this page, not a recording or a transcript. Ana García is an example name — use yours.

Notice the shape: you answer, then you ask. The two short requests in the middle — ID and signature — are answered with Claro and Sí, which cost you little while you find your next sentence.

Three answers that fit the same question.

Landlords ask the same thing in different words. Learn the question in three shapes with one answer for each, then rehearse only the one you like.

Illustrative lines: your landlord will use their own words.

Two details worth fixing now. You will usually hear 4B as cuatro be: the letter names are short (A is a, B is be, C is ce). And a woman says la inquilina, not el inquilino. Not the tenant yet, only viewing? Todavía no soy el inquilino. Vengo a ver el departamento.

What comes back, and what to say.

You do not need every word. Recognise the shape of the question and have one short answer ready. Claro, Sí, claro and Aquí tiene cover most door-step requests.

Illustrative replies. Landlord routines differ; the shape of the exchange stays the same.

Listen for es que…. It is one of the most common openers in spoken Spanish and usually introduces an explanation or a small problem, not a refusal. Answer the problem, not the words: De acuerdo, then a short question.

When a sentence arrives too fast, four phrases buy you time without switching to English: No entiendo. ¿Puede repetir, por favor? ¿Puede hablar más despacio, por favor? ¿Puede escribirlo, por favor? All four are on the free Conversation Rescue Card, and there is a longer walkthrough in how to ask someone to repeat or slow down.

Rehearse it out loud, five times.

Speaking is a physical habit, not a fact you memorise. Five passes, about ten minutes.

The IES What Works Clearinghouse practice guide Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning recommends spacing review over time and using quizzing that makes learners retrieve answers rather than reread them. It is written for teachers, not a promise about your progress; the kitchen-table version is the last two steps — recall from memory, then repeat it tomorrow.

Cover the tables and answer these four out loud. Check the answers only after you have tried all four.

• I can greet my landlord and say who I am.
• I can confirm the flat is mine with one short sentence.
• I can ask for the key, politely, without switching to English.

This is practice, not a proficiency test. Nobody is marking you.

One next step.

Do not collect five resources tonight. Do this instead: open Day 3 of the free 7 Day Spanish Starter Plan — make the introduction your own — and put your own name and flat number into the four lines above. Say them twice out loud. Then read the eight rescue phrases once, so you know what is in your pocket if the conversation goes sideways. The plan is free to read on its web page.

Open Day 3 of the free plan

Also useful, one link each: the Conversation Rescue Card for the clarification phrases, and the free everyday scenarios for short role plays. Downloading a PDF opens a sign-up box first; the file opens after you sign up. What is planned as optional paid support is set out plainly on the pricing page.

Common questions.