Spanish language Q&A Forum

I am still confused when to use and when to omit the definite article.  I end up guessing, which is sometimes right and often wrong.  Example 1: "En lo que se refiere a incendios forestales." We're talking about forest fires in general and there is no definite article "los".  Example 2: "Es importante que no nos olvidemos del cambio climatico."  The English statement is that we must not forget about climate change in general.  This time there is the definite article "el" or "del".  Is there a rule or guideline that might clear this up for me?  Thanks.

I don't seem to be getting this lesson. I freely admit there are things above my head. When I just don't get it, I want to move on to other things (to stay motivated) hoping sometime in the future I'll get it then. Sadly, I am stuck on a subject that I won't even use much as a beginner. I'd like to skip it.  Just my opinion. Thanks. 

Can: 

"Mi madre, esa mujer me la recuerda."

mean either one:

"Esa mujer me recuerda a mi madre." (similar)

"Esa mujer me recuerda mi madre." (brought to mind)

i find the way the speaker speaks is not natural compared to those i heard from TV

Your article says: "In most places El Pretérito Indefinido will be used with "nunca" and "siempre" and even with time expressions which have a connection to the present, such as: hoy, este mes, este año, esta noche, esta mañana, esta semana..."

On a quiz, I used the indefinido in a question with a "time expression which has a connection to the present" (i.e. "hoy") and got the question wrong-- it was corrected to the perfecto. 

Is there something wrong with what I did? Are the quizes looking for peninsular or latin american answers? 

In the example "Los turistas fueron a El Salvador." Why isn't it "LAS turistas?"

Ok, I meant to ask earlier, but when I heard this same phrase for the third or fourth time while watching "¿Quién mató a Sara?" it just really started bugging me: this seems to be a great example of the impersonal ellos form (the whole premise is that he thinks she was killed but doesn't actually know who did it!) but I can't understand why that "la" is there. "La mataron" or "A Sara Mataron" I get, but how isn't it redundant to have both...? 

If anyone knows what's going on here, thanks in advance for any insight you're willing to offer! (but no spoilers please!) 😂 

I want to say "I met Rosa leaving the theatre", in the sense that Rosa was leaving the theatre. I've written "Me encontré con Rosa saliendo el teatro" but I think that means that I was leaving the theatre when I met Rosa. However, "Me encontré con Rosa al salir el teatro" feels completely wrong, and "Me encontré con Rosa que salía el teatro" sounds right but a bit formal. Is that last translation the only way of removing the ambiguity.

Some of the phrases sound like commands, why not use the imperative mood as opposed to subjunctive?