Landlord email: mixed tu/Lei and a lease deadline
A Maltese student rents a room in Msida and has a 12-month lease. The boiler has been broken for three days; the lease says the landlord must arrange repairs within 48 hours of a written report. The student drafts an email: «Gentile Signor Bianchi, ti scrivo perché la caldaia non funziona da tre giorni. Ho provato a chiamarla ma non risponde. Potrebbe mandare un tecnico? La ringrazio anticipatamente. Cordiali saluti.» The landlord is 60 and previous emails used «Lei». The student needs a reply before Friday and must mention the lease clause, the dates, and a proposed technician visit on Thursday between 9 and 11. She has 25 minutes and a 120-word limit.
1. Diagnose the register inconsistency in the draft and correct it.
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The draft mixes tu and Lei. ti scrivo is second-person singular informal, while chiamarla, Potrebbe and La ringrazio are formal Lei forms. Because previous emails used Lei, the whole message should be consistent: Le scrivo perché la caldaia non funziona da tre giorni. Ho provato a chiamarLa ma non risponde. Potrebbe mandare un tecnico? La ringrazio anticipatamente. Note that chiamarla in the original is ambiguous in writing: it could be la + direct object, but in context it is the formal object pronoun. Capitalising La in chiamarLa is optional but useful in a formal email. Cordiali saluti is acceptable with Lei; it is not the source of the inconsistency.
2. Rewrite the email in no more than 120 words, adding the lease clause, the dates, and the proposed technician visit.
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A suitable revision is: «Gentile Signor Bianchi, Le scrivo perché la caldaia non funziona da tre giorni, precisamente da lunedì 10 marzo. Il contratto prevede che la riparazione sia organizzata entro 48 ore dalla segnalazione scritta; La invito pertanto a mandare un tecnico giovedì 13 marzo, tra le 9 e le 11, quando sono in casa. Resto in attesa di un Suo riscontro. La ringrazio anticipatamente. Cordiali saluti.» The revision keeps Lei throughout (Le scrivo, La invito, Suo riscontro), adds the contractual trigger and the 48-hour rule, and makes the proposed time specific. Pertanto and Resto in attesa di un Suo riscontro raise the register without becoming archaic.
3. Should the student close with «Cordiali saluti», «Distinti saluti» or «Cari saluti»? Justify the choice in context.
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Cordiali saluti is the best default here: it is neutral-formal and appropriate for a request to a landlord with whom the tenant uses Lei. Distinti saluti is more detached and bureaucratic; it can sound cold or even mildly adversarial in a routine repair request. Cari saluti is too warm for this relationship and clashes with the contractual point. If the student wanted to signal firmness, she could add Resto in attesa di un Suo riscontro before Cordiali saluti, but the closing itself need not change. The key is consistency of register, not choosing the most formal formula available.