Meine Nachbarin ist gestern fast ausgerutscht, deshalb ruft sie heute lieber gleich einen Klempner.

Because ausrutschen usually forms the perfect tense with sein, not haben.

A lot of German verbs that describe:

• movement from one place/state to another, or
• a change of state

use sein in the perfect.

So:

• Sie ist ausgerutscht = She slipped

This is similar to:

• Sie ist gefallen = She fell
• Er ist gekommen = He came

Also, ausrutschen is a separable verb:

• infinitive: ausrutschen
• perfect participle: ausgerutscht

So the full perfect form is:

• ist ausgerutscht

Ausrutschen means to slip, usually on a wet, icy, or smooth surface.

Examples:

• Ich bin auf dem Eis ausgerutscht. = I slipped on the ice.
• Sie ist im Bad ausgerutscht. = She slipped in the bathroom.

It is a separable verb:

• present: Ich rutsche aus
• perfect: Ich bin ausgerutscht

That change is very common with separable verbs in German.

Fast means almost here, and it usually goes right before the part it modifies.

So:

• fast ausgerutscht = almost slipped

The sentence:

• Meine Nachbarin ist gestern fast ausgerutscht

means she nearly slipped, but did not actually fall or slip completely.

Compare:

• Sie ist fast gefallen. = She almost fell.
• Er hat fast geweint. = He almost cried.

In German, fast often comes directly before the participle or verb idea it belongs to.

Because deshalb counts as occupying the first position in a main clause, so the conjugated verb must come immediately after it in second position.

German main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb is in the second slot.

So:

• Deshalb ruft sie heute ... not
• Deshalb sie ruft ...

You can think of it like this:

1. deshalb
2. ruft
3. sie

This is very common with adverbs like:

• deshalb
• deswegen
• dann
• heute
• trotzdem

Examples:

• Heute bleibt er zu Hause.
• Deswegen kommt sie später.

Both can express a reason, but they work differently.

deshalb

• means therefore / that’s why / for that reason
• introduces a main clause
• keeps normal verb-second word order

Example:

• Sie war krank, deshalb blieb sie zu Hause. = She was sick, so she stayed home.

weil

• means because
• introduces a subordinate clause
• sends the conjugated verb to the end

Example:

• Sie blieb zu Hause, weil sie krank war. = She stayed home because she was sick.

So in your sentence:

• ..., deshalb ruft sie heute ...

If you rewrote it with weil, it would look different:

• ..., weil sie heute lieber gleich einen Klempner ruft.

Because the sentence describes two different time frames:

• gestern: what happened yesterday
  → ist ... ausgerutscht (perfect tense)
• heute: what she is doing today
  → ruft (present tense)

German often uses the present tense for actions happening now or today, just like English can say:

• She calls a plumber today or more naturally in English:
• She’s calling a plumber today

So the tense change is completely natural:

• yesterday: near accident
• today: current reaction

Here lieber means something like rather, preferably, or better in the sense of preference.

In this sentence:

• deshalb ruft sie heute lieber gleich einen Klempner

the idea is:

• because of what happened yesterday, she would rather call a plumber right away now

It does not mean she loves doing it. It expresses a preference or cautious choice.

Very common pattern:

• Ich gehe lieber zu Fuß. = I’d rather walk.
• Wir bleiben lieber zu Hause. = We’d rather stay home.

So here:

• lieber adds the feeling of to be safe, she’d rather do this now

Gleich has several meanings in German, but here it means:

• right away
• straight away
• immediately

So:

• lieber gleich einen Klempner rufen = to rather call a plumber right away

This is a very common everyday use of gleich.

Compare:

• Ich mache das gleich. = I’ll do that right away / in a moment.
• Ruf gleich an! = Call right away!

Be careful: gleich can also mean same or equal in other contexts:

• zwei gleich große Zimmer = two equally large rooms
• Das ist nicht gleich. = That is not the same.

Because rufen takes a direct object in the accusative case, and Klempner is masculine.

The article for a masculine noun in the accusative is einen.

So:

• nominative: der Klempner
• accusative: einen Klempner

Examples:

• Ich sehe einen Mann.
• Sie ruft einen Klempner.

If the noun were feminine, it would be:

• eine Frau

If it were neuter:

• ein Kind

So einen Klempner is just the correct accusative form after ruft.

Yes, Klempner can mean plumber, but there is a small usage note.

In everyday German, depending on the region, people may also say:

• Installateur
• Sanitärinstallateur
• Handwerker in a broader sense

In many contexts, Klempner is perfectly understandable and common, especially in learner materials. But in real life, some speakers might prefer Installateur for someone who fixes pipes, water systems, or bathroom plumbing.

So:

• einen Klempner rufen = completely understandable
• einen Installateur rufen = also very common

German adverb order can be flexible, but there are strong tendencies.

Here:

• heute = time
• lieber = attitude/preference
• gleich = immediacy / manner-like nuance

So:

• deshalb ruft sie heute lieber gleich einen Klempner

sounds natural because it moves from:

1. when: heute
2. speaker attitude/preference: lieber
3. how urgently / immediately: gleich

You do not need to memorize this as a rigid formula for every sentence, but this order sounds very idiomatic.

Other orders are sometimes possible, but they may change emphasis:

• Deshalb ruft sie lieber heute gleich einen Klempner.
• Deshalb ruft sie heute gleich lieber einen Klempner.

These are not always wrong, but the original version sounds smooth and natural.

Because the sentence contains two main clauses joined together:

1. Meine Nachbarin ist gestern fast ausgerutscht
2. deshalb ruft sie heute lieber gleich einen Klempner

In German, when two independent main clauses are connected in this way, a comma is often used to separate them clearly.

So the comma helps show:

• first clause: what happened
• second clause: the consequence

You could think of it like:

• My neighbor almost slipped yesterday, so today she’d rather call a plumber right away.

Meine Nachbarin means my female neighbor.

Using meine makes it specific and personal:

• meine Nachbarin = my neighbor
• die Nachbarin = the neighbor

Also, Nachbarin is the feminine form:

• der Nachbar = male neighbor
• die Nachbarin = female neighbor

Because it is feminine and in the nominative case here, the possessive article is:

• meine Nachbarin

Compare:

• mein Nachbar = my male neighbor
• meine Nachbarin = my female neighbor

Yes, but it would change the meaning a little.

The original sentence says:

• yesterday she almost slipped
• today she is calling a plumber

That makes the second action feel current.

If you put the second clause in the past, for example:

• Meine Nachbarin ist gestern fast ausgerutscht, deshalb hat sie heute gleich einen Klempner gerufen.

that would mean:

• she already called the plumber today

So both are possible, but they describe different situations:

• ruft = she is calling / calls today
• hat ... gerufen = she called today already