En la lavandería me dijeron que la mancha saldría mejor con agua fría.

In Spain, lavandería usually means a launderette / laundromat or a laundry service, depending on context.

In this sentence, En la lavandería means at the laundromat / at the laundry place.

A learner should also know that:

• lavandería is not the same as lavadora, which means washing machine
• the exact English translation depends on the situation, but the Spanish word itself is very natural here

Because en expresses location here, not movement.

• En la lavandería = in / at the laundromat
• A la lavandería = to the laundromat

So the sentence is telling you where they told me this, not where I went.

Me dijeron literally means they told me.

Breakdown:

• me = to me
• dijeron = they said / they told

Spanish often uses an unspecified they when the exact person does not matter. In English, we do the same:

• They told me...
• At the bank they said...
• At the hotel they told us...

So here it probably means the staff at the laundromat told me.

Because object pronouns like me, te, le, nos usually go before a conjugated verb.

So:

• me dijeron = they told me
• me explicó = he/she explained to me
• me recomendaron = they recommended to me

This is normal Spanish word order.

Dijeron is the preterite of decir, and it is used because the speaker is referring to a completed event in the past: someone told them this at a specific moment.

Compare:

• me dijeron = they told me, one completed past action
• me decían = they used to tell me / they were telling me, more ongoing or repeated

In this sentence, the idea is a single past event, so dijeron is the natural choice.

Because que introduces the content of what was said.

It works like that in English:

• Me dijeron que... = They told me that...

In English, that is often omitted:

• They told me the stain would...

In Spanish, que is normally kept.

This is a very common use of salir in Spanish.

For stains, dirt, marks, and similar things:

• La mancha sale = The stain comes out
• La mancha no sale = The stain won’t come out

So salir is not only to leave / to go out. It can also mean:

• to come out
• to wash out
• to be removed

That is why la mancha saldría mejor means the stain would come out better.

Because this is a case of future in the past.

The main verb is in the past:

• me dijeron = they told me

So what follows is often shifted back:

• saldrá = it will come out
• saldría = it would come out

In direct speech, they might originally have said:

• La mancha saldrá mejor con agua fría

But when reported after a past verb like dijeron, Spanish often uses the conditional:

• Me dijeron que la mancha saldría mejor...

This is very similar to English:

• direct: It will come out better
• reported: They told me it would come out better

Because dijeron que is introducing reported information, not doubt, emotion, or a hypothetical clause that requires the subjunctive.

So:

• Me dijeron que la mancha saldría mejor... is normal reported speech
• saldría is conditional, not subjunctive

A common learner mistake is to expect the subjunctive after every past reporting verb, but that is not how Spanish works. After decir que, if you are simply reporting what someone said, you normally use the indicative family, including the conditional when needed.

Because Spanish often leaves out the article when talking about a substance or material in a general sense.

So:

• con agua fría = with cold water
• con jabón = with soap
• con leche = with milk

Using el/la would usually make it sound more specific:

• con el agua fría = with the cold water, meaning some particular water already identified in the context

Here the meaning is general, so con agua fría is the natural choice.

Because the sentence is talking about the stain as one specific stain.

• la mancha = the stain
• las manchas = the stains

If there were several stains, you would say:

• las manchas saldrían mejor con agua fría

So the singular tells us the speaker is referring to one particular mark or stain.

Yes, Spanish allows some flexibility, though the original version is very natural.

For example:

• Me dijeron en la lavandería que la mancha saldría mejor con agua fría

This means the same thing. The difference is mainly emphasis:

• En la lavandería... puts the location first
• Me dijeron... puts the action first

Both are correct, but starting with En la lavandería sounds very natural when setting the scene first.