Hi Alison, Welcome to the forum.
I don't know how technical you are but hope this info may help.
There are at least two fuses involved, one for the hydraulic pump and one for the ecu. As far as I know both are in the boot and may be near the battery but I am not sure.
The main switch for up/dowm may be faulty, this would have to be tested with volt meter etc to prove good or bad.
There are also several small switches, one on the handbrake lever to ensure you are stationary when operating the hood, one on the hood lid catch to ensure the catch is released before the hydraulic rams try opening it, and at least two possibly three more on the hydraulic rams themselves to ensure one procedure has finished before the next one starts.
I have also found that the ecu is very voltage sensitive in that if the battery voltage is down in the slightest then the hood will not operate, fully charged battery or engine running and all works fine.
As you can see from the above, you will have to be very carefull because if the rams operate when they should not you will cause a lot of damage.
The hood can be lifted or lowered manually but it will take a lot of effort to force the oil around the system and can only be done slowly because of this.
If you do try manually, have somebody operate the hood as normal, eg, ignition on, handbrake on and press the up or down. Assuming the hood is down, first of all listen for the hood catch operating, if this clicks try lifting the hood lid. If the resistance of lifting the hood varies depending on if the up button is depressed or not this may indicate that the ecu is working and opening the hydraulic valves but the pump itself is not working. If the hood is up (and bearing in mind you have just got the vehicle) you have to manually operate the locking handle on the hood and then push the hood up and back until the front section is nearly vertical before the hood will operate via the hydraulics.
Hope this helps.
Wally