Speaking Spanish
How to raise a noise problem with a neighbour, in Spanish
If you are in the chair right now
Quería comentarte algo: el ruido de arriba se oye todas las noches.
I wanted to mention something: the noise from upstairs can be heard every night.
If that gets brushed off
El ruido empieza sobre las once y no me deja dormir. ¿Podemos buscar una solución?
The noise starts around eleven and doesn't let me sleep. Can we find a solution?
«Se oye» — it can be heard — is the whole trick: the noise did it, nobody is accused, and you still live next to this person tomorrow. «Quería comentarte algo» marks it as a conversation, not a confrontation, before the complaint has even landed.
This is the conversation with the highest stakes per word: get it slightly wrong and you have not fixed the noise, you have started something with someone whose front door is next to yours. Phrasebooks skip it entirely, presumably because there is no counter to point at.
If you need more than one line
softest
Hola, ¿tienes un momento? Quería comentarte una cosa.
Hi, do you have a moment? I wanted to mention something. The soft knock before the subject.
neutral
Por las noches se oye bastante ruido desde tu piso.
At night quite a lot of noise can be heard from your flat. Se oye keeps it impersonal — the noise is the subject, not the neighbour.
neutral
Sobre todo entre semana, a partir de las once.
Mostly on weeknights, from eleven onwards. The specifics are what make it fixable rather than an insult.
firmest
¿Podemos quedar la semana que viene y buscar una solución?
Can we get together next week and find a solution? Ends the chat with a plan instead of a grievance.
Two things worth knowing
You have to live next to this person afterwards.
Let the noise be the culprit
Spanish hands you a grammatical escape hatch: «se oye ruido», noise is heard, with no one doing the hearing-damage. Compare «haces mucho ruido» — you make a lot of noise — which is the same fact aimed at a person. Every softener in this conversation is a version of that move: the problem exists, and nobody in the stairwell caused it.
Times and days are the polite part
«De domingo a jueves, a partir de las once» sounds fussier than «siempre», and lands far better. Vague complaints are read as complaints about the person; specific ones are read as requests about a schedule. Naming the hours also quietly proves you have been patient — you did not come down after one bad night.
What Carlos actually said
What you have to get done
- Bring up the noise issue without blaming
- Specify the days and times
- Plan something for next week
Carlos
Hi, how are you?
You
Hi Carlos, fine, thanks. I wanted to mention something about the noise upstairs, because it can be heard practically every night and I'm finding it hard to rest; could we talk about it?
Carlos
Of course, thanks for telling me; I didn't know it could be heard so much and I'm very sorry.
You
Thanks for understanding; it's mostly heard Sunday to Thursday, usually from eleven at night. How about we go over it calmly next week and find a solution?
Carlos
Yes, of course; next week we'll talk it over calmly and I'll turn the volume down after eleven, thanks for letting me know. See you!
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on Carlos's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Carlos is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
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