Spanish language Q&A Forum

QWhat Is the difference between estuve/estaba/era/fui

I am a bit confused here. Below are two responses which I got wrong. In both cases the "hint" is that it is a "future idea". So why should one of them be indicative and the other subjunctive? "Even if you don't want to" I put in the subjunctive because there seemed to be a bit of doubt, and that was marked wrong. "Even if you do extra hours" I put in the indicative because it seemed that that was definitely going to happen.

I think this is a very complicated and nuanced piece of grammar so I would appreciate some help, thank you.

PS I tried to include a screenshot of my answers but the system wouldn't let me.

One of the options for a mini kwiz question, ""Suspendió el examen, no porque ________ sino porque ese día no se sentía bien." As I understood it, no porque could be used with either subjunctive or indicative and not change the meaning. Why isn't "no porque no iba a estudiar" an option along with the other two examples (which were subjunctive).

When do you and when you don't use el/la/los/las?

I'm totally confused by this and always end up making the wrong choice. 

The question reads: Nosotros ____________  pocas cosas.” English sentence reads: “We don’t say much.” I put down “no decimos” which was marked wrong for just “decimos”. Not sure why “no” wouldn’t precede “decimos” in this sentence. Please advise. Thanks.

Just to clarify if I fully understand this lesson, would these 2 sentences be correct?: 

1. Roberto, cuyas hijas van al colegio de mi hija, es abogado. 

2. Tus padres, cuya casa actual es tan grande para sus necesidades, quieren una casa menos espaciosa.  

Many thanks for helping me get my head around this. Saludos ~Oscar