01 · Checking the inbox out loud
Déjame revisar el correo un momento.
Let me check the email for a moment.
Déjame + verb is how you narrate what you're doing mid-conversation — useful well past email.
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Email Expert
Recap an email thread, pick the right register, and talk your reply through out loud.
In natural speech it's el correo (or correo electrónico) — though you'll hear a casual el mail all over Latin America. The furniture of the conversation: la bandeja de entrada (the inbox), el asunto (the subject line), un archivo adjunto (an attachment). Register is the real skill — with the boss you open with estimado, a client is usted always, friends get a simple hola, and you never mix tú and usted in the same message. One small trap: it contracts to responder al correo, never 'a el correo'.
Below: the phrases for describing what landed in your inbox, talking a reply through before you write it, the register mistakes that read wrong — and a way to rehearse the whole recap out loud.
The warm-up pack
The phrases for talking about what's in your inbox — what came in, what tone it's in, and what you're going to say back — before you write a word of it.
01 · Checking the inbox out loud
Déjame revisar el correo un momento.
Let me check the email for a moment.
Déjame + verb is how you narrate what you're doing mid-conversation — useful well past email.
02 · The state of your inbox
Tengo la bandeja de entrada llena hoy.
I have a full inbox today.
La bandeja de entrada is the actual term for inbox — not a literal translation, the word people use.
03 · Naming what just landed
Me llegó un correo del jefe esta mañana.
I got an email from the boss this morning.
Me llegó, not recibí — this is how an email arriving actually gets narrated out loud.
04 · Describing the subject line
El asunto decía 'urgente, por favor responder'.
The subject said 'urgent, please reply'.
El asunto is the subject line, and decía + quote is the natural way to report exactly what it said.
05 · Reading the tone
El tono del mensaje me pareció raro.
The tone of the message seemed strange to me.
Naming the tone before you decide how to reply is exactly what this badge trains — reading a message, not just answering it.
06 · Talking the reply through first
Le voy a responder que sí puedo asistir.
I'm going to reply that yes, I can attend.
Voy a responder que + your answer is how you rehearse a reply out loud before you type a word of it.
07 · Explaining the delay
Le voy a explicar que hubo un retraso.
I'm going to explain that there was a delay.
Hubo un retraso is the neutral, blame-free way to explain a delay — useful in almost any awkward email.
08 · Picking the register for the boss
Con mi jefe siempre empiezo con 'estimado'.
With my boss I always start with 'dear'.
Estimado is the formal opener — pair it with usted and you're set for anyone you don't know well.
09 · Picking the register for a friend
A mis amigos les escribo con un simple 'hola'.
To my friends I just write a simple 'hello'.
The contrast is the point — knowing when hola is enough matters as much as knowing estimado.
10 · Owning the one you forgot
Se me olvidó responderle la semana pasada.
I forgot to reply to him last week.
Se me olvidó puts the blame on the forgetting, not on you directly — a softer way to admit the slip before you fix it.
11 · Sending the fix
Voy a mandar un mensaje de seguimiento.
I'm going to send a follow-up message.
Mensaje de seguimiento is the term for a follow-up — say it out loud and you've basically already written it.
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First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/email-expertRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| my inbox is bursting | tengo la bandeja a reventar | tengo el mail explotado |
| I got an email from the boss | me cayó un mail del jefe | me llegó un mail |
| I forgot to reply | se me pasó responderle | me olvidé de contestarle |
| I'll email him right away | le tiro un correo ahorita | le mando un mail |
Watch out
The part no phrase list can do
Isabella
Your conversation teacher for this pack
In the Email Expert pack, the final lesson is a live conversation — and Isabella plays your coworker, just back from a week off: friendly, anxious about the context she missed, refreshing her inbox the whole time you talk. Monday morning, two desks pushed together, and she realized at the airport she never replied to the boss. You recap the thread — who sent what, what got decided — help her pick the right register for the reply, and talk the follow-up to the missed deadline through with her. Out loud. And she talks back:
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Email Expert is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
El correo or el correo electrónico. In relaxed Latin American speech you'll also hear el mail — me cayó un mail del jefe in Mexico — but correo is the safe default everywhere.
It's the formal 'Dear': con mi jefe siempre empiezo con 'estimado'. A full formal frame sounds like Estimado señor González, espero se encuentre bien, closed with quedo atento a sus comentarios.
La bandeja de entrada, el asunto, el archivo adjunto. In use: tengo la bandeja de entrada llena hoy; el asunto decía 'urgente, por favor responder'; venía con un archivo adjunto muy pesado.
It depends on the recipient — and you pick one and hold it: a un cliente lo trato de usted siempre; con compañeros de trabajo uso un tono más relajado. Mixing registers mid-message is the mistake that reads worst.
Own it and move forward: se me olvidó responderle la semana pasada (I forgot to reply last week), then voy a mandar un mensaje de seguimiento — a follow-up. If there was a delay on your side: le voy a explicar que hubo un retraso.