Problem with subjunctive 3
Hello, i have another problem with with subjunctive. I was practising subjunctive vs indicative and i had 3 incorrect answers.
Mi madre dice que nosotros (lavar) ________ los platos.
My answer: lavamos
Correct: lavemos
El no sabe donde (deber) _______ poner el libro.
My answer: deba
Correct answer: debe
Es cierto que vosotros (trabajar) _________ muy duro.
My answer: trabajáis
Correct answer: trabajéis
Can you explain it to me please?
Thanks.
2 Answers
Mi madre dice que nosotros (lavar) ________ los platos.
My answer: lavamos
Correct: lavemos
My mother tells us to wash the plates. Whether we actually will wash them or not is unknown. Our mother doesn't think we have washed the plates. (maybe we have, but she doesn't think so, so she is declaring this by using the indicative.) She is making a request. The action requested goes in the subjunctive.
El no sabe donde (deber) _______ poner el libro.
My answer: deba
Correct answer: debe
This is a simple statement of fact. The person saying this does not think that he knows where he should put the book. The verb after donde can go in the indicative or the subjunctive depending on the level of uncertainty. In the above case, there does not appear to be any uncertainly. Contrast with the following:
Podemos ir a donde quieras. (subjunctive)
We can go wherever you want.
Es cierto que vosotros (trabajar) _________ muy duro.
My answer: trabajáis
Correct answer: trabajéis
This one surprises me, I would have thought that the indicative is correct, this is normally what all the textbooks teach, at least to beginners....es cierto que is normally followed by the indicative.
It is possible, I think, to use the subjunctive here, if everyone already knows that they work hard and you are simply making a comment about it. In this case, there is no need to declare that they work hard. And now that I think about it, subjunctive makes perfect sense here. Since you are talking to the people who work very hard, they already know that they work hard. So why declare it using the indicative? If you were talking about these people to someone else who didn't know that these people worked hard then you would probably use the indicative. (but you would use trabajan, not trabajáis.)
But when talking to the people who work hard, the following structure might make sense.
Es cierto que vosotros trabajéis muy duro, pero ganáis muy poco dinero.
It is true that you work very hard, but you earn very little money.
You might wonder...why not use the subjunctive of ganar since they probably know that they make very little money also. Well, what would be the point of saying this sentence if you're not trying to tell them something about what you think/feel about the situation?
Unmarried woman....to her brothers who are trying to support the family....
The children are hungry and we don't have enough money for groceries.
One of the brothers...but we work very hard...give us a break!
Woman...It's true that you work very hard, but you earn very little money. (even if it is just to stress what you think/feel about this.) Get a better job or ask for a raise!
I would not worry about this subtlety now, just keep going with your lessons, and for your own benefit, you should do them in order with all of the exercises until you get passing grades on each lesson before moving on to the later lessons. If you do this, within a few months, most of the things which are confusing to you now will no longer be confusing and you can move on to building your vocabulary and speaking, reading and writing in Spanish.
*Note that by using the subjunctive, you are not even stressing that you agree with them that they are working hard. You are just repeating what they said in order to appear agreeable before you lower the hammer. 
In English, this shade of meaning could be communicated by saying It's true that you might be working hard, but... More often we would say: You may be working hard, but...
I would appreciate it if some native speakers could either confirm or correct my reasoning above, particularly with the third sentence. I'm sure Lazarus will know.
In spite of what I wrote above, I believe it would be correct to use the indicative in the 3rd sentence. I am only trying to give a possible rationalization for the use of the subjunctive. I believe the vast majority of Spanish speakers would use the indicative here. The subjunctive MAY be OK and have a rational explanation, but I think it would be uncommon.
I agree with DilKen. I would also think that the indicative trabajáis would be the correct answer. If your teacher can explain why it is not, please write us and let us know.
