Spanish language Q&A Forum

I know this keeps coming up, but in the examples we see: “las llaves de la casa”, and “la reserva de hotel”. Both these expressions follow the structure of NOUN + DE + NOUN. Why do we only use “la” for the first one?

In the last sentence, why was it not appropriate to use "cualquiera" for the word "any"?

Thank you

Pati Ecuamiga

Can you explain why the cake is called 'tarta' in the second and third sentences, but 'pastel' in the fourth?

The subjunctive is one of the most fun things to me about Spanish. I'm interested what I can do with it, and how it can work for me!

Is it right to assume that the meaning of pretty much the same conditional sentence in English can be switched from 'likely' to 'unlikely' in Spanish simply by applying the subjunctive? For instance......     

LIKELY?: Si nos tomamos unas vacaciones, podríamos ir a España = If we took some holiday, we could go to Spain 

UNLIKELY?:  Si nos tomáramos unas vacaciones, podríamos ir a España = If we took some holiday, we could go to Spain (but that's just wishful thinking!)

I mean, am I right that the second sentence in Spanish would suggest that actually getting some time off from work is highly unlikely?

...... es un poco dificil pero, si supiéramos utilizar el subjuntivo, podríamos expresarnos mucho mejor en español! ¿Verdad?

Saludos

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)?

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).

Sorry, I understand my mistake now - please disregard.

For this question about recibir in the imperfect, I inserted the "personal a"  but it was marked wrong. Ayudame por favor!

In his small apartment he didn't receive guests. --> En su apartamento pequeño no recibía a visitas. (recibía was correct but adding a was marked wrong)

De lejos, habria es actual en inglais. pero me cuento que utilizo habre.

So, I am working my way through Kwiziq. My question is that I am also thinking of having an online Spanish class, possibly twice a week...how do I go about finding someone? I will say that I would much prefer a group class of around three of four people - do they exist. Is anyone interested in getting together a small group of people?