For those who don't know, for those who might not know:

Question

For those who don't know, for those who might not know:

For this concept, would you preferentially use indicative, subjunctive, or choose it based on your belief about the likelihood of there being such people.

Such as:

Para los que no lo saben: (For those who don't know ( I know you all are out there, or I know precisely who you are?)).

Para los que no sepan: ( For those who might not know (maybe everbody knows, I am not sure, but maybe there is someone who doesn't).

So can you use both, depending on your estimation of the audience, or is one or the other preferred for most situations.

Answer 1

choose it based on your belief about the likelihood of there being such people.

I would go with this.

Edit: Regarding the quality of things I found googling the sentence with the subjunctive, I would dare to say that it might be more colloquial/informal to phrase it this way.

So are saying I can pick either based on my feelings, or that I need to pick on specifically? - bosquederoble, Aug 4, 2017

I would pick either based on my feelings :). - Shamelesspanish, Aug 4, 2017

Thanks. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 4, 2017

Answer 2

Voy a explicarlo para los que no saben. (here of course the people don't know)

Voy a explicarlo para los que no sepan. ( here like above but also I'm emphasizing probably that I'm not so sure if they know or don't know)

The use of one or the other by a native speaker is totally automatic and we don't even think that we're using indicative or subjunctive. We just use it and have no explanation.

This is a case where as a native speaker I would use one or the other. Remember that in some other cases an indicative would sound awful and unacceptable. Not in this case.

I have no rule, only the way it sounds.

Thanks. :) - bosquederoble, Aug 4, 2017

Answer 3

Bosque:

I'm going to go out on a limb here, because I'm not sure about the Spanish, and I look forward to comments from natives to let me know if I am right about the following:

To me, it is just more polite to say in English:

For those of you who might not know.

"For those of you who don't know" makes you sound a little bit like a know-it-all and it is sort of a put-down for the people in the audience.

In the same vein, I would say the subjunctive in Spanish would be the more polite way to say it, even if you're pretty sure that some or even all of the people that you are talking to don't know it.

If you're pretty sure that what you are about to say is news to most/everybody, just say:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to inform you that....

I'm not sure about this... if it applies, the difference is very subtle. However, we Argentinians are famous for being a little bit rude when speaking (if not rude, at least more informal than other countries) so I might be mistaken. - Shamelesspanish, Aug 4, 2017

Shameless: thanks for the input, always good to learn from a native speaker :) - DilKen, Aug 4, 2017

You are welcome! It is a very interesting approach, I would like another native speaker to answer. - Shamelesspanish, Aug 4, 2017

It just reminded me of the frequent use of quisiera instead of quiero when being polite, so I thought it might carry over into this sort of situation. - DilKen, Aug 4, 2017

I think that here is a little bit different because you are saying "para los" (some may know, others may not, you are addressing those that don't), closer to a conditional: "si alguien no sabe,...". - Shamelesspanish, Aug 4, 2017

I mean, saying "Como no saben lo voy a explicar" is less polite than saying "para los que no saben"; you are avoiding being rude by choosing this structure. - Shamelesspanish, Aug 4, 2017

Gracias de nuevo. Creo entender la diferencia. Creo que entiendo la diferencia. ¿Cuál es mejor? Me gusta el número dos, pero no estoy seguro. :) - DilKen, Aug 4, 2017

Los dos están bien! Puedes usar el que más te guste (esto de cambiar de idioma todo el tiempo me va a dar esquizofrenia jeje). - Shamelesspanish, Aug 4, 2017

Creo entender o creo que entiendo está perfecta para mí. - polenta1, Aug 4, 2017

Shameless: 格拉西亞斯無恥 That was thank you Shameless in Chinese. I'm adding to your skizo :) - DilKen, Aug 4, 2017