English translations of esperar que + El Presente de Subjuntivo

Question

Though most of the English translations here use the future tense, as an American English native speaker it sounds stilted to me. I would normally say, for example, "I hope you come out with us tonight", "I hope they're very happy in their marriage.", and "My brother and I hope that you have lots of luck with the job." To me, this form, which is our very subtle subjunctive present tense, is a more natural translation from the Spanish present subjunctive than the English translations in future tense here.

Answer

Hola Carl,After debating this with our English and North American colleagues, they come to the conclusion that both translations are acceptable. Sometimes we need to decide which is more appropriate or which sounds more natural. The reason why they may have chosen this one for example:Mi hermano y yo esperamos que tengas mucha suerte con el trabajo.My brother and I hope that you'll have lots of luck with the job.instead of:My brother and I hope you have lots of luck with the job.is because with the first one we can keep the "that" (que) while with the second one you need to omit it so it all sounds natural and that may confuse students a bit more.I hope this helps.Un saludoInma