Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor. - It is unfair to pay more when the service is worse.

es injusto = literally “it is unjust/unfair” (using the adjective injusto).
no es justo = literally “it is not fair/just” (negating justo).

Nuance:

es injusto can sound slightly stronger or more categorical, like labelling the situation as unfair.
no es justo is often felt as a bit more colloquial and everyday.

In practice, they’re interchangeable in this sentence:

Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor.
No es justo pagar más cuando el servicio es peor.

Both are natural.

Why is injusto masculine and singular? Shouldn’t it agree with something?

In Es injusto pagar más…, the es doesn’t refer to a specific masculine noun; it refers to the whole situation (paying more when the service is worse).

Spanish often uses a default masculine singular adjective with ser when talking about an idea or situation in general:

Es injusto. – It’s unfair.
Es necesario estudiar. – It’s necessary to study.
Es difícil aprender chino. – It’s difficult to learn Chinese.

If you specify a feminine noun, the adjective then agrees:

La situación es injusta. – The situation is unfair.
La decisión es injusta. – The decision is unfair.

So here, because there’s no explicit noun like situación or decisión, injusto stays in the default masculine singular form.

Why is it pagar más and not something like pagar más dinero?

In Spanish, pagar más on its own already means “to pay more (money)”. The word dinero is usually unnecessary because it’s obvious from context.

Compare:

English: It’s unfair to pay more when the service is worse.
Spanish: Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor.
(No need to say pagar más dinero.)

You would only add dinero if you really needed to emphasize that you’re talking about money specifically, for example in a context where multiple things could be “more” (time, effort, etc.):

No solo pagamos más dinero, también esperamos más tiempo.
We not only pay more money, we also wait longer.

Why is it pagar más and not pagar por más or pagar más por?

The preposition por is used differently with pagar than in English.

When you say “pay more” in English (without saying “for [something]”), Spanish normally just says pagar más:
- Es injusto pagar más. – It’s unfair to pay more.
You add por when you specify what you are paying for:
- Pagar más por el mismo servicio. – To pay more for the same service.
- Pagar menos por peor calidad. – To pay less for worse quality.

So your original sentence is fine without por because it’s not explicitly saying “pay more for the service,” just “pay more” in that situation:

Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor.

Why do we say el servicio and not just servicio?

Spanish uses definite articles (el, la, los, las) much more often than English, especially with general or abstract nouns.

English: when service is worse
Spanish: cuando el servicio es peor

Here, el servicio can mean “the service” in a general sense (e.g. in a restaurant, a company, etc.), not necessarily one specific service.

More examples of this general use:

La vida es corta. – Life is short.
El amor es complicado. – Love is complicated.
El café es caro aquí. – Coffee is expensive here.

In English we often drop the article (life, love, coffee), but in Spanish it is very common to include it.

Why is it es peor and not es más malo?

Peor is the irregular comparative of malo (bad), just like worse is the comparative of bad in English.

malo → peor (bad → worse)
bueno → mejor (good → better)

In standard Spanish, you normally use:

peor for “worse”:
- El servicio es peor. – The service is worse.
mejor for “better”:
- El servicio es mejor. – The service is better.

Más malo does exist, but:

It’s much less common as a simple comparative of quality.
It can have a special nuance like “naughtier” (for kids) or “more evil,” depending on context.

In this sentence, es peor is the natural, correct choice.

Why do we use ser (es peor) and not estar (está peor) here?

Both ser and estar can appear with comparatives like mejor/peor, but the nuance changes:

ser peor tends to describe a general quality or typical evaluation:
- El servicio es peor. – The service (in general) is of worse quality.
estar peor often emphasizes a temporary state or a particular moment:
- Hoy el servicio está peor que ayer. – Today the service is worse than yesterday (right now).

In Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor, the idea is a general rule: “when the service is of worse quality (than what you’re paying for / than before).” That fits better with ser.

You could say cuando el servicio está peor if you wanted to emphasize a temporary dip in quality, but the original sounds more general.

Why is cuando el servicio es peor in the indicative (es) and not in the subjunctive (sea)?

The choice between es and sea after cuando depends on what kind of time reference you’re making:

General/habitual statements → indicative
- Talking about something that happens whenever a condition is met, like a rule or general fact:
  - Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor.
    It’s unfair to pay more when the service is worse (in general, whenever that happens).
Future / hypothetical actions (with a main verb in the future, command, etc.) → subjunctive
- When the action in the cuando clause is in the future and uncertain:
  - Pagaré más cuando el servicio sea mejor.
    I’ll pay more when the service is better.
  - Cuando el servicio sea mejor, pagarás más.
    When the service is better, you’ll pay more.

Your sentence describes a general principle, not a specific future event, so the indicative (es) is the natural choice.

Can I change the word order, for example putting cuando el servicio es peor at the beginning?

Yes. Spanish is flexible with clause order here. Two very natural versions:

Es injusto pagar más cuando el servicio es peor.
Cuando el servicio es peor, es injusto pagar más.

Both are correct and mean the same.

However, this order sounds unnatural:

✗ Es injusto cuando el servicio es peor pagar más.

While not impossible, it feels clumsy and harder to process. A good rule of thumb:

Keep Es injusto + [infinitive clause] + cuando…
or
Start with Cuando…, then es injusto + [infinitive].

How do you pronounce injusto, servicio and peor in Spain?

For standard Peninsular Spanish:

injusto – /inˈxusto/
- Roughly: een-HOOS-to
- j = like a strong English h in house, but further back in the throat.
servicio – /seɾˈβiθjo/
- Roughly: ser-BEE-thyo
- v is pronounced like a soft b.
- ci in Spain = θi (like English th in think).
- Final -cio sounds like thyo.
peor – /peˈoɾ/
- Two syllables: pe-or, stress on the second: pe-OR.

Stress pattern in the whole sentence:

Es inJUS-to paGAR MÁS cuanDO el serVI-cio es pe-OR.
(The capitalized syllables are stressed.)

Why does más have an accent mark?

The accent mark in más distinguishes it from mas (without an accent), which is an old-fashioned or literary word meaning “but” (similar to pero).

más (with accent) = “more”:
- pagar más – to pay more
- más caro – more expensive
mas (without accent) = “but” (rare in modern spoken Spanish):
- Quise ayudar, mas llegué tarde. – I wanted to help, but I arrived late.

In everyday Spanish, you’ll almost always see pero for “but,” and más always carries the accent when it means “more.”