Spanish language Q&A Forum

Now I am confused about the use of Presente de subjuntivo versus futuro. If the condition is presently probable or future probable, then the future is used? If the present condition is unlikely or not probable, then I can use the subjuntivo? So the issue is the certainty or uncertainty of the condition? John will win/John (is certain to win): Juan ganará. I hope that John will win: Espero  que John gane.

I'd like more examples of using Todavía no + Pretérito Indefinido = not yet as I am stuck with it. Are there other lessons available.  

Why is “at Christmas” “en Navidad” with no article, but “I like Christmas very much.” “Me gusta mucho LA Navidad.” with the article? When is and isn’t the article required? Same question for Nochebuena.

Hola!

I'm new and finding this really useful, but I was wondering about this:

Tal vez ________ cervezas en el frigorífico. (encontrar)

The answer is meant to be encuentres - but I thought that with e.g. tal vez / quizás you could use either encuentres or encuentras, I think I'm missing something but I'm not sure what! Do you know where I'm going wrong?

Thank you!

I can do the dictation but there are words I don't know the meaning of even if I can write them correctly. In the French version of the course - if you hover the cursor over the word it gives the translation.  Without that I have to go to google translate to get the meaning.  I find this annoying!   Surely the vocabulary should be  available, or the translation without having to find a dictionary or use google translate!?

I typed in a simple question:  HOW TO FORM IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE and received many pages with endings of imperfect subjunctive and its uses, without once being given the simple method - the stem on which to add endings.  Is this anywhere explained?

I read the lesson thoroughly, and Silvia’s answer below. I still struggled a bit with thinking about the mood of the sentence being determined by shared/non-shared knowledge or context in the case of a past event. For me, it has been a helpful trigger to think of aunque + indicative as directly translating to “even though”, but the situations that go to subjunctive something more like “while it may ”.  I think this fits with Silvia’s comment that the main point of the phrase is sort of what comes next, the background/shared information is an acknowledgement of context, not the primary statement. Think about our sample phrase: “Sí, pero aunque fuera un éxito, tuvimos que ceder demasiado por nuestra parte. “.  In my mind the approximate translation would be “Yes, while it may have been a success, we had to compromise too much on our side. And, “…might…” makes me think subjunctive. I hope this is accurate, and that it helps someone else.

I think I understand, but I would appreciate some clarification on this lesson. The way I'm reading this, it seems that if the person or object being referred to is general, then you don't use the "lo/la/los/las" But if it refers to a specific person or object, then you must use them.

For example:
"Has llamado a un doctor?" "No, no he llamado."
but
"Has llamado al doctor / a su doctor?" "No, no lo he llamado."

or
"Tienes dinero para el concierto?" "Si, tengo."
but
"Tienes el dinero que ahorraste para el concierto? "Si, lo tengo."

Am I on the right track?