Learn to speak on the phone in Spanish with these 5 formal dialogues
Do you know how to book a doctor’s appointment in Spanish? Or how to reserve a table at a restaurant or call a company when there’s a problem? These are everyday situations, but if you’re not used to speaking on the phone in Spanish, they can feel tricky. In this listening comprehension exercise you’ll hear 5 real dialogues and choose the correct response at each point.
The dialogues cover five very practical situations you’ll actually encounter if you travel or live in a Spanish-speaking country: a call to an agency, to the doctor, to a taxi company, to a restaurant, and to a car rental company.
As well as practising your listening comprehension, this exercise helps you get familiar with the imperfect of politeness: a very natural way to sound courteous in formal situations that many learners don’t know about.
How does the exercise work?
- Listen to the audio for each line of the dialogue
- Choose the correct answer from the three options
- If you get it right, you’ll hear the correct pronunciation 🔊
- At the end of the exercise you’ll see your total score
1 / 10
What situations will you practise?
Each dialogue represents a real-life situation. Here’s a summary of the most useful expressions from each one:
📞 Calling an agency or company
You’ll learn to ask to speak to someone, leave a message and say goodbye politely.
«Buenos días. Quería hablar con el señor Rodríguez.» — Good morning. I’d like to speak to Mr Rodríguez.
«No es urgente. Volveré a llamar mañana.» — It’s not urgent. I’ll call back tomorrow.
«Muchas gracias. Que tenga un buen día.» — Thank you very much. Have a good day.
🏥 Calling the doctor’s office
You’ll learn to book an appointment, clarify whether it’s urgent or routine, and negotiate a day and time.
«Llamaba para pedir una cita con el doctor.» — I was calling to book an appointment with the doctor.
«No, es para un control.» — No, it’s for a check-up.
«No, el jueves no puedo. ¿Podría ser la próxima semana?» — Thursday doesn’t work for me. Could it be next week?
🚕 Calling a taxi company
You’ll learn to request a taxi and give your address clearly.
«Llamaba para pedir un taxi para el aeropuerto.» — I was calling to request a taxi to the airport.
«Calle Colón No. 27.» — 27 Colón Street.
🍽️ Calling a restaurant
You’ll learn to make a reservation, negotiate the date and time, and confirm the booking.
«Llamaba para reservar una mesa para 5 personas.» — I was calling to book a table for 5 people.
«No, para el viernes a las 9:00.» — No, for Friday at 9:00.
«Perfecto. Entonces, confirmo para el sábado a las 8:30.» — Perfect. Then I confirm for Saturday at 8:30.
🚗 Calling a car rental company
You’ll learn to report a problem, give your location and ask about the waiting time.
«Llamaba porque tengo un problema con el coche.» — I was calling because I have a problem with the car.
«Hemos pinchado un neumático.» — We’ve got a flat tyre.
«¿Cuánto tardará el servicio de asistencia?» — How long will the assistance service take?
The imperfect of politeness: how to sound more polite in Spanish
Have you noticed that in the dialogues people say «llamaba» instead of «llamo»? Or «quería» instead of «quiero»? This is what’s known as the imperfect of politeness (imperfecto de cortesía): using the imperfect indicative instead of the present tense to make a request sound more courteous and polished. It’s very common in Spain in phone calls and customer service situations.
| Direct (present tense) | More polite (imperfect tense) |
|---|---|
| Quiero hablar con el señor Gómez. | Quería hablar con el señor Gómez. |
| Llamo para reservar una mesa. | Llamaba para reservar una mesa. |
| Necesito una cita. | Necesitaba una cita. |
The Real Academia Española recognises this as a standard feature of spoken Spanish for softening requests. The Instituto Cervantes also offers resources on verb tense use in formal contexts if you’d like to go deeper.
Keep practising your Spanish
If you enjoyed this exercise, here are more activities to keep improving:
✏️ You might also like…
☎️ Speaking on the phone: informal phone conversations in Spanish
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