How to respond complaints like this?

“You think that’s bad… last Friday, not only did I break my water bottle, I also forgot to pump up my bike, so I was late for work”

If I were going to respond in this way I would replace the italicized text with something like "If you thought you had it bad...", but I don't think trying to one-up people's misery is a good way to build a healthy relationship. Showing compassion is probably a better response.

Comparing your bad days with John’s bad days depends on how close you are to John. Usually, What you said would be rude. Instead, you could say this: “Oh, I understand that. Last Friday, I broke my water bottle and forgot to pump my bike…” But, if you and John are close (like a really good friend or family) and he won’t take your response as seriously, you could say this: “I’ve had it worse. Not only did I break my water bottle last Friday, but I also forgot to pump my bike…” I hope this helped!

Your reaction is not natural and does sound negative. Usually, when someone complains, you should first acknowledge their frustration. If someone complained to me about their bad day, I would say something like, "Oh, that's terrible" or "That sucks" or "Sorry you had a bad day," and then if I wanted to tell them about my bad day I would also say (after acknowledging their bad day,) something like, "I had a bad day too. My water bottle broke..." or "I know what that feels like to have a bad day. My water bottle broke..." or "Something must be in the air because my day was bad too. My water bottle broke..."

You could use the phrase *Tell me about it*, and then go on to tell your own story. It also has a little bit of empathy. Because the response is connected by being late for work, and you are saying it for the sake of having a worse story than his, I would phrase it more like: *Tell me about it!* Last Friday I forgot to pump up my bike so I was late for work too, and I also broke my water bottle! It was such a bad day. You could show more empathy by using *I know how you feel*, or *That sucks*, or *That must have been annoying/difficult* instead. Your literal translation is a bit dismissive, it has the feeling of "I don't care to hear about your problems if they're not a match for mine"

The English translation is probably “that’s nothing! Today I…. etc” There are absolutely people who do this, but it’s not a good way to get people to like you lol. A friendlier response would be to say something like “wow, that sucks! You know, I’ve had a really bad day too. Maybe mercury is in retrograde/we angered a witch/(insert other joke about something that causes bad luck)”

Is this an idiom? In English it sounds not just rude, but cruel. You're supposed to listen to and empathize with someone else's misfortunes, not compete with them. 🥲

What a pity! Oh no! Poor you!

Others have responded about politeness and phraseology. I will comment on a different aspect; > I lost my **keys** on the way to work so I had to get **a** new one. This mixes a single and a plural. It should either be; > I lost my keys on the way to work so I had to get new ones. Or > I lost my key on the way to work so I had to get a new one. --- > I not only broke my water bottle last Friday, but also forgot to pump up my bike so I went to work late. This sentence doesn't make it clear when you had to pump up your bike. That could have happened today - which would be strange, because the topic is a single bad day. If the pump incident also occured last Friday, it would be better to make it clear that the entire sentence is about last Friday, not just the water bottle incident. For example, > Last Friday, I not only broke my water bottle, but also forgot to pump up my bike tyre, so I got to work late. Also, you do not pump a bike. You pump a bike tyre. And you don't normally care that you *went* to work late, just that you *got* there late.

The closest phrase is definitely "You think that's bad?" or "Tell me about it!" before you say what bad things happened to you. This will have the closest tone to what you intend, I think. People are overstating how rude this would sound, in reality; it's not *that* bad. The tone is usually jovial and pretty friendly. But, I do agree that most people would be more likely to say something like "Ugh, that sucks! My week hasn't been great either..." etc. I'm sure you know already, but I think it's hilarious how evil "you cannot compare misfortunes with me" sounds in English. It's something a villain would say, lmao

"isn't that just how it goes? Tomorrow is another day"

"You can't compare misfortunes with me" not only sounds insensitive and dismissive but it sounds a bit literary. I wouldn't recommend saying this unless it was said ironically, where it would probably get a good laugh.

I think "That sucks, bro" would probably be a better response

Sux0r!

Generally in English, you would say something that both acknowledges your friend has spoken, and since they were expressing something negative, you would try to say something empathetic and supportive. Something like "wow, that's really unfortunate" Then you could then proceed to tell them about your shitty day afterwards, but I would usually let my friend drive the conversation for a few more minutes before jumping in with my stuff.

"You think that's bad? ..." "You think you have it bad? ..." "That's nothing. ..." However, depending on the situation, this kind of sentiment, no matter what specific words you use, could sound quite uncaring or rude. Empathy, consolation, encouragement etc. might be better options.

This isn' t even relevant to language. It is generally rude to try to one-up someone else when they are having a bad day. Keep your stuff to yourself and be there for your friend. Not everything is about you. It' s basic empathy.

Instead of directly translating something that would be culturally inappropriate, here’s what I would say instead: Informal: “that sucks.” “I’m sorry to hear that, man.” More formal: “I’m sorry to hear that.”