Situations using conditional

[Roxerz]

Here in Mexico, most of my local friends either say, "me das" or "me trajes" when ordering food and I asked if "me gustaría" should be used instead. Unfortunately, I couldn't get much of an answer out of anyone besides "it works better".

I would assume that "me gustaría" is correct because if I order pizza and they don't have pizza, I couldn't order it. Now for the other part, I just can't understand why it would be "me das" instead of "Dame" o "me trajes" over "Traeme" I know one is present indicative while the latter is Imperative but when ordering in English, we also say, "I would like" or "Give me". If I'm ordering at a nice restaurant, I would say, "I would like __________" while driving through a McDonalds, I would say, "Give me a #4 with coke" or something to that effect.

I know I shouldn't go for literal translations but I can't think anything besides "You bring me, you give me" and not sound imperative in English.

This example brings me to my next situation which recently I said to a friend, "Si necesitas ayuda, me dices y te ayudaré". This example, I would 99% of the time say "Dime" but I wanted it to be a suggestion and not imperative. Recently, a native Spanish speaker told me to stop using imperatives so often. And for the last part, since I am avoiding imperative, I was thinking of using subjunctive ("me digas") in the recent example but I know the rule of "SI" + present indicative does not go with subjunctive but I feel like it is unknown if she would 'say to/tell me'

Edit: One more thing, the situation above, is about a native Spanish speaker reading an economics book in English so I suggested to help her but I said to her, scholarly English can be hard. I'm not sure whether the following 2 are correct or neither: inglés erudito podría ser dificil or inglés erudito sería dificil. In afterthought, "podría" seems redundant.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

The way different cultures view social interactions through language cannot give you any specific answer on why we talk differently to what you expect.

We don't say "me gustaría" because this expresses a deeper wish:
- Me gustaría una copa de tequila, pero estoy embarazada.
- Me gustaría que no lloviera el día de mi boda.
- Me gustaría que me pusieras más atención.
If you tell the waiter "me gustarían dos tacos al pastor", it's awkward, since all you have to do is ask for them to have them.


Heads up: the expression you hear is "me trae(s)" ("trajes" is not a verb).
Now, if you are uncomfortable with these structures that you wouldn't use in your native tongue, insert a polite entonation and a "por favor", which never hurts.
Although many people intonates "me trae" and "me da" as imperatives, intonating as a question changes everything. You can be polite anywhere and you won't be wrong.

Fancy restaurant:
- Quiero / voy a querer, por favor, la crema conde y el filete a las brasas.
- Para mí, por favor, una ensalada César.
- ¿Me da/trae, por favor, una cerveza?
- ¿Me presta un tenedor, por favor?
- ¿Me regala otra servilleta, por favor?
- ¿Tendrá un cuchillo de carne, por favor?

McDonald's:
- Un mactrío de Big Mac con Coca-Cola, por favor.
- Quiero unos nuggets de seis piezas, por favor.
- ¿Me da un refresco grande, por favor?



"Me digas" for the situation you are describing is incorrect. Use "me dices"; this works as a polite imperative.
- Si necesitas ayuda, avísame. (The verb makes a difference.)
- Si tienes problemas, me dices/avisas y te ayudo.



As for your last sentences: if you say "podría ser difícil", in the context you're clearly stating that your friend could find difficulties when she's reading her textbook. But if you say "sería difícil", even in the same context, you need to state an explicit situation which would make reading the textbook difficult; this sentence sounds incomplete.

- El inglés académico ("erudito" means something else (http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=erudito)) puede (anytime you find it) ser difícil.
- El inglés académico sería difícil si nunca lo hubieras leído.


My advice is that you try to flow with the expressions you learn instead of filtering them out through the use of your own language. Sometimes you can be understood in context, but constantly trying to use Spanish the way you speak in English can lead to important communication problems.

[Roxerz]

As for your last sentences: if you say "podría ser difícil", in the context you're clearly stating that your friend could find difficulties when she's reading her textbook. But if you say "sería difícil", even in the same context, you need to state an explicit situation which would make reading the textbook difficult; this sentence sounds incomplete.

- El inglés académico ("erudito" means something else (http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=erudito)) puede (anytime you find it) ser difícil.
- El inglés académico sería difícil si nunca lo hubieras leído.


My advice is that you try to flow with the expressions you learn instead of filtering them out through the use of your own language. Sometimes you can be understood in context, but constantly trying to use Spanish the way you speak in English can lead to important communication problems.

Thank you for clearing that up. In that situation, if I wanted to say, "It can be difficult", I just would keep it in the present indicative "puede ser dificil"..?

The reason why I started to think about conditional is because whenever I buy something at an Oxxo or one of the food stores at school, they always say to me "¿Sería todo?" I guess it's because they are asking me a question while my example was indicative?