certifiquemos o certificáramos ?

In Travelogue 2.3:

• - “…sería una buena idea que ambos nos certifiquemos como buceadores antes de ir.”
• - “(it) would be a good idea that we both get certified as divers before (we) go.”

I just checked and I did ask about this 4 years ago! (Just us hacks were on the thread.) Does it make a difference if the “que" is changed to “si” ? 

¡Hola Steven-W15!

Sorry that you've waited so long for an answer on this! 

You can indeed change que “that” to si “if” in this sentence; however, in that case, it would be better to follow the rules of the second conditional (using the general formula si + [verb in el imperfecto del subjuntivo] , [verb in el condicional]) and say sería una buena idea si ambos nos certificáramos “(it) would be a good idea if (we) both got certified.”

In fact, technically speaking, it would be more appropriate to use certificáramos in the version with que as well; however, you may well hear Spanish speakers use certifiquemos in this kind of sentence construction, just as María does in this lesson. I'll check with the Spanish team to see if they can make that clearer in the lesson somehow!

I hope that this answers your question - do let me know if anything is still unclear!

Saludos,

Liss

Hola Liss!

Your explication was perfectly clear and just as I suspected (hoped!): when repeating the dialogue back, I have been automatically changing the tense to certificáramos. Gracias!

Saludos,

Steven

De nada, Steven, and that's excellent that your Spanish instincts are becoming so fine-tuned!! :)
 

Hasta la próxima,

Liss