Spanish language Q&A Forum

Can I ask you that when a thing and a thing (singular noun) or a thing and things (singular noun and plural noun)... followed verb "gustar" like listing, gusta or gustan is right?

For example: 

1. Me (gusta/gustan) el chocolate y la golosina.

2. Me (gusta/gustan) el chocolate y las golosinas.

3. Me (gusta/gustan) las golosinas y el chocolate.

Thank u so much

There Will be and There is going to be are identical in meaning. Is that the same for habrá and va a haber. Google translate doesn’t seem to make a distinction. 

I did struggle to understand why "se recordaba" was in the singular in "... solo se recordaba a los difuntos el 1 de noviembre" [= "the deceased were only remembered on November 1st"].

At first, I was tempted to make it plural to agree with "difuntos". As a passive construction, I thought it could be compared with "se venden apartamentos de lujo en la playa" - (given as one of the examples in Forming the Spanish passive with se (la pasiva refleja) ... which is the lesson we get referred to).

Anyway, I was also "scratching my head" regarding the use or non-use of the "personal 'a' " in a passive sentence of this nature - [Compare "Se buscan secretarias con experiencia" in that^ same lesson] ..

I then looked in my grammar book [by Butt and Benjamin], and discovered that this is part of a construction which evolved comparatively recently in the Spanish language - in which the use of the "personal 'a' " makes a singular verb necessary even when the [passive] subject is in the plural.  

When would be appropriate to use formal and informal second person?

For context, I'm planning to speak mostly with my Mexican family members, many that I'll be meeting for the first time or for the first time in many years. Most of them are older than me (I have one younger brother who speaks mostly Spanish). Would it be better to speak formally to the older family members, or informally because they're family?

Would you start formally with strangers (esp. those who are older) and then at some point be able to drop formality as you become closer to people, or as they express to you that it's okay (similar to Korean and Japanese)?

Thank you so much for this detailed explanation Inma. It's greatly appreciated. I hope it's fair to say that I wish that  Leísmo/Loísmo/Laísmo didn't exist 🙄... another thing for my old brain to try to remember. ;))

How do you know when to use definite articles after the preposition "de"?   For instance "la influencia de la globalización" or "la vida de las mujeres"?   Why not just "la influencia de globalización" or "la vida de mujeres"?      In this article on "de", Using the preposition "de" in Spanish with nouns for description , none of the examples have a definite article after de.

When translating an account the past in Spanish would the english translation be in the present or past tense? Like “apagan los fuegos” is they extinguish the fires but in english we would say they extinguished the fires, right?

Sonia, De verdad. No podías guardártelo para ti