Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y que hablaras sin tanta vergüenza. - I would like you to trust your level more and to speak without so much embarrassment.

Because me gustaría que… expresses a wish about someone else’s behavior, and in Spanish that triggers the subjunctive in the subordinate clause.

Me gustaría que confiaras… = I would like you to trust… (wish, not reality)
Me gustaría que hablaras… = I would like you to speak…

Using confiabas / hablabas (imperfect indicative) would describe past ongoing actions, not a wish.
Using confiarás / hablarás (future indicative) would talk about future facts or predictions, not a desire.

So the structure is:

Me gustaría que + imperfect subjunctive (here: confiaras, hablaras)

Why is it the imperfect subjunctive (confiaras, hablaras) and not the present subjunctive (confíes, hables)?

This is the standard sequence of tenses in Spanish:

Me gusta que confíes / hables → main verb in present → present subjunctive
Me gustaría que confiaras / hablaras → main verb in a conditional-type form → imperfect subjunctive

Me gustaría behaves like a conditional (even though grammatically it’s a “conditional use” of the imperfect): it softens the desire and pushes it into a more hypothetical space, so Spanish matches it with the imperfect subjunctive in the clause with que.

Using Me gustaría que confíes / hables is not standard and sounds off to native speakers.

Could I say Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y hablar sin tanta vergüenza (with hablar in the infinitive)?

No, not in this sentence.

Here we have two parallel actions that both depend on que:

que confiaras más en tu nivel
(que) hablaras sin tanta vergüenza

If you use confiaras (subjunctive), the coordinated verb should also be subjunctive, not infinitive:

✅ Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y que hablaras sin tanta vergüenza.
✅ Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y hablaras sin tanta vergüenza. (dropping the second que is fine)
❌ Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y hablar sin tanta vergüenza. (wrong mix of forms)

Infinitive would work only if the subject of both verbs was the same as me, e.g.:

Me gustaría confiar más en mi nivel y hablar sin tanta vergüenza.

What’s the difference between confiaras and confiarás?

They are different tenses and moods:

confiaras → imperfect subjunctive (used in que-clauses after verbs of wish, doubt, emotion, etc.)
confiarás → future indicative (normally expresses future facts or predictions)

In this sentence:

Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel… = I would like you to trust more in your level… (a wish)
Me gustaría que confiarás más en tu nivel… ❌ sounds wrong: the future indicative doesn’t fit a que-clause of desire.

So confiaras (subjunctive) is required here.

Why is it tanta vergüenza and not tan vergüenza?

Because in Spanish:

tanto / tanta / tantos / tantas + noun
tan + adjective / adverb

Here vergüenza is a noun, so we need tanta:

✅ sin tanta vergüenza = without so much shyness / embarrassment
❌ sin tan vergüenza

Examples:

tanta paciencia, tanta energía, tanto dinero
tan paciente, tan energético, tan caro

What exactly does vergüenza mean here? Is it like “shame”?

Vergüenza can mean:

Moral shame (feeling you did something wrong)
Embarrassment / shyness in social situations

In this context (speaking a language), it clearly means embarrassment / shyness, not moral guilt:

hablar sin tanta vergüenza ≈ to speak without being so shy / self-conscious

In English we might translate it more naturally as “without being so embarrassed / shy”, not literally as “without so much shame”.

Why is it en tu nivel and not de tu nivel?

Because the verb confiar normally uses the preposition en:

confiar en alguien = to trust someone
confiar en algo = to trust something / have confidence in something

So:

✅ confiar más en tu nivel = to trust your (language) level more
✅ confiar más en ti mismo = to trust yourself more

De tu nivel would be used in different structures, e.g.:

tu nivel de español = your level of Spanish
gente de tu nivel = people of your level

What nuance does Me gustaría que… have compared to Quiero que…?

Both express a desire, but:

Quiero que confíes más… = I want you to trust more…
- Direct, stronger, can sound more demanding.
Me gustaría que confiaras más… = I’d like you to trust more…
- Softer, more polite, more tentative; it sounds like a wish rather than an order.

So in many contexts, Me gustaría que… is more courteous or less pushy than Quiero que….

Could you also say Me gustaría que confiase más en su nivel y que hablase sin tanta vergüenza? What’s with -ase vs -ara?

Yes, that version is also correct.

Spanish has two equivalent forms of the imperfect subjunctive:

-ra form: confiara, hablara
-se form: confiase, hablase

They mean the same thing; there is no difference in tense or mood. In modern Spanish:

The -ra form (confiaras, hablaras) is more common in everyday speech.
The -se form (confiase, hablase) may sound slightly more formal, old-fashioned, or literary in many regions, but it is still standard.

In Spain you will hear both, with -ra more frequent in casual conversation.

How are confiaras and hablaras formed from confiar and hablar?

They are regular -ar verbs in the imperfect subjunctive (-ra form).

Take the third person plural of the preterite and change the ending:

confiar
- preterite 3rd person plural: confiaron
- remove -ron → confia-
- add imperfect subjunctive endings: -ra, -ras, -ra, -ramos, -rais, -ran
- → confiara, confiaras, confiara, confiáramos, confiarais, confiaran
hablar
- preterite 3rd person plural: hablaron
- remove -ron → habla-
- add endings:
- → hablara, hablaras, hablara, habláramos, hablarais, hablaran

In the sentence we use tú forms: confiaras, hablaras.

Why is there a que before both verbs: que confiaras… y que hablaras…? Do we need to repeat que?

We don’t have to repeat que, but it is allowed.

Grammatically, both verbs depend on the same que:

Me gustaría que [confiaras más en tu nivel] y [hablaras sin tanta vergüenza].

Options:

✅ Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y que hablaras sin tanta vergüenza. (with repetition)
✅ Me gustaría que confiaras más en tu nivel y hablaras sin tanta vergüenza. (without repetition)

Repeating que can slightly clarify or emphasize that the two actions are parallel, but it’s not mandatory.

Why is there an accent on vergüenza? How do you pronounce gü?

In Spanish:

gue / gui are pronounced like “ge” / “gi” in “get / give” → the u is normally silent.
To make the u pronounced, you add a diacritic (¨): güe / güi → the u is sounded.

So:

guerra → /ˈger.ra/ (no u sound)
vergüenza → /berˈɡwen.θa/ (Spain) or /berˈɡwen.sa/ (Latin America), the u is pronounced: “gwen”.

The double dot in gü is called diéresis in Spanish (umlaut in English).

Is this sentence informal (tú) or formal (usted) Spanish?

It’s informal, because the verb forms confiaras and hablaras are for tú.

Formal usted version would be:

Me gustaría que confiara más en su nivel y que hablara sin tanta vergüenza.

Here confiara / hablara are 3rd person singular forms, which are used for usted.

Could I say pena instead of vergüenza, like sin tanta pena?

In Spain, pena and vergüenza are not interchangeable:

vergüenza (in this context) = shyness / embarrassment about speaking
pena usually = pity / sadness, or in some regions “shyness” but less common in Spain in this sense

So, in Peninsular Spanish, sin tanta vergüenza is the natural way to say “without being so shy / embarrassed” when speaking.
Sin tanta pena would more likely be understood as “without feeling so sorry / sad,” and would not fit as well in this language-learning context.