Is the future subjunctive verb form all but dead in Spanish as I have said? One of the participants in our forum doesn't think so. Here's what he wrote:

As I wrote you about three years ago, I believe you are mistaken in your assessment that the future subjunctive tense is almost obsolete. Any study of Spanish refranes of the 16th century will show the continuing use of the future subjunctive therein: e.g., "When in Rome do as the Romans do," which is alive and well in “Adónde fueres, haz lo que vieres.”

Please also note that the future subjunctive is very much in use in Portuguese, whose speakers number +/- 250 million people in eight countries around the world.

From my perspective, whether the future subjunctive is almost obsolete depends on what you mean by "almost." Read more...

Whether it's coincidence or linguistic forces at work, I found it surprising as I prepared a new lesson on caer much the figurative meanings of the verbs "to fall" in English and caer in Spanish coincide. In both languages, for example, it is possible to fall into temptation (caer en tentación) and to fall into a trap (caer en trampa). Read the lesson, however, and you'll find there are a few meanings of caer that aren't translated to English so neatly using "fall."

Once you get beyond the beginner's stage of learning Spanish, one of the more challenge aspects of mastering the language is learning to use the subjunctive mood — a verb form that is uncommon in English but essential to Spanish. With that in mind, updated and improved lessons on the subjunctive will appear on this site over the next few weeks, starting with a lesson on when to use the subjunctive.

Beginning Spanish students are often told that the L of Spanish is pronounced pretty much like it is in English. But that isn't necessarily true. While the English word "low" and the Spanish lo are pronounced very much alike, "tall" and tal are not. Although you may not have noticed, English has two "L" sounds that are quite different — and, as explained in our new lesson on pronouncing the L, only one of them is used in Spanish.