Spanish language Q&A Forum

I wrote "las velas son tambien ..." but the correction answer was "la velas tambien son ...". Upon re-listening to the recording various times, I feel pretty certain the readers say "las velas"; moreover it is following by "son". Did I hear wrong? What is the reason for the use of "la" and not "las" with "velas"?

Sinceramente,

Pati Ecuamiga

Miguel tiene una novia y tu tienes

demasiada ( incorrect answer).  The correct answer is demasiadas

Miguel has one girlfriend and you have too many.

Una novia is singular so why is my answer demasiada wrong.

Can you say something like,  

De todos mis amigos, la mas guapa es Esmeralda. 

Of all my friends, the best-looking is Esmeralda. 

The test question was to conjugate maldecir into the "they" form but no explanation of how to do so was given, only for "decir" ("dicen"). But maldecir does not follow the same rule as "decir" it seem because the correct conjugation was shown to be "maldicen" (and not "maldecen," which would match the "decir" pattern). Why is there a difference in the conjugation pattern between decir and maldecir? Is there a rule to be learned? Thanks!

One of my lesson tests on Poder in the subjunctive asks, 

No dudo que vosotras ________ correr tan rápido como ellos.I have no doubt you can run as fast as them.(HINT: Conjugate "poder" in El Presente Subjuntivo.)

But why would you use the subjunctive here? No  dudo, I have no doubt, is an expression of certainty. Everywhere else that I have learned (my college course, spanishdict translation and google translation all use the indicative for No hay duda que..., and I figure this ought to be similar.

In the quiz question A veces ________ que llevamos casados 20 años. I selected the response “se me olvido” which was incorrect — but I’m not sure why, even after reviewing the lesson. I have a couple guesses, but could you help me understand why it doesn’t work?

With: "Both rivers, the Amazon and the Orinoco, and their respective basins", why does Amazon get pluralized to "Amazonas"? I've seen that the masculine is "el Amazonas" and the feminine is "la Amazona". Why is that, please? I'm wondering about the use of "el río Amazonas" versus "la selva Amazona" and "la selva Amazonica".

How does "se nos" change the meaning of "Uno de esos ríos que enseguida viene a la mente" -v- "Uno de esos ríos que enseguida se nos viene a la mente".

And the  use of "ello" . . . does "ello" not mean "it" or "that"? Is the use of "ello" as "this" merely the uneducated English useage where "this" and "that" and their appropriate relationships to time and place become misused? : "An example of that is Caño Cristales, a natural sanctuary."

And why the use of the future tense "existirán en otros lugares del mundo"?