Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): A nuestra profesora le gustaría que nos atreviéramos a expresar nuestras ideas en voz alta. - Our teacher would like us to dare to express our ideas out loud.

You cannot say “Nuestra profesora gustaría” because gustar almost always needs that indirect object (me, te, le, nos, os, les) and usually the “a + person” phrase to clarify who likes it:

A María le gusta el café. – María likes coffee.
A nuestra profesora le gustaría… – Our teacher would like…

So “A nuestra profesora le gustaría…” is the natural structure.

Why do we need both A nuestra profesora and le? Isn’t that saying “to our teacher” twice?

It looks redundant from an English point of view, but in Spanish this is normal and, with gustar, essentially obligatory:

A nuestra profesora = clarifies who the “le” refers to (to our teacher)
le = the indirect object pronoun required by the verb gustar

This is called clitic doubling of the indirect object. With gustar and similar verbs (encantar, interesar, molestar…), the pronoun (le) is always there, and the “a + person” phrase is added for clarity or emphasis:

Le gusta el cine. – He/She likes movies. (but who?)
A Laura le gusta el cine. – Laura likes movies.

So it’s not a mistake; it’s the standard pattern. You can’t drop le and just say “A nuestra profesora gustaría…” — that would be incorrect.

What is the grammatical subject of gustaría in this sentence?

It’s not “nuestra profesora”.

Grammatically, the subject of gustaría is the thing that would be pleasing. Here, that “thing” is the entire que-clause:

que nos atreviéramos a expresar nuestras ideas en voz alta

So in grammar terms:

Subject: que nos atreviéramos a expresar nuestras ideas en voz alta
Indirect object: a nuestra profesora / le
Verb: gustaría

Literally:
“That we should dare to say our ideas out loud would be pleasing to our teacher.”

Why is it le gustaría and not le gusta or quiere?

The verb form gustaría is the conditional tense (would like).

Le gusta que… = She likes that… (general preference / current reality)
Le gustaría que… = She would like (it) if it happened / She’d like… (polite wish)
Quiere que… = She wants us to… (stronger, more direct)

In this sentence, le gustaría sounds:

softer and more polite, less demanding
more like a wish or hope than a strict requirement

So:

A nuestra profesora le gustaría que… = Our teacher would like us to… (she’d be pleased if we did it)
versus
Nuestra profesora quiere que… = Our teacher wants us to… (clear expectation / demand).

Why do we have the word que after le gustaría?

In English you say:

She would like us to dare to express our ideas…

Spanish doesn’t allow that “would like + someone + infinitive” structure. You need a subordinate clause introduced by que:

Le gustaría que + [subjunctive]

So:

Le gustaría que nos atreviéramos…
= literally: “It would please her that we would dare…”

You cannot say:

✗ Le gustaría nos atrever a… (wrong)

Correct patterns are:

Le gustaría que nos atreviéramos a…
Le gustaría vernos atrevernos a… (different structure: would like to see us)

But to express “would like us to do X”, you use gustaría que + subjunctive.

Why is nos atreviéramos in the subjunctive?

The verb atreviéramos (from atreverse) is in the imperfect subjunctive because:

The main verb gustaría expresses a wish, desire, or something hypothetical, not a fact.
In Spanish, when the main clause expresses a wish, emotion, preference, doubt, etc., the verb in the que-clause usually goes in the subjunctive.

Pattern:

Le gustaría que + [subjunctive]
Examples:
Me gustaría que vinieras. – I’d like you to come.
Nos gustaría que participarais. – We’d like you (plural, Spain) to take part.
A nuestra profesora le gustaría que nos atreviéramos… – Our teacher would like us to dare…

So nos atreviéramos is subjunctive because the action is desired/imagined, not presented as real.

Why is it nos atreviéramos (imperfect subjunctive) and not nos atrevamos (present subjunctive)?

Both are subjunctive, but different tenses:

nos atrevamos = present subjunctive
nos atreviéramos = imperfect (past) subjunctive

After gustaría que, Spanish almost always uses the imperfect subjunctive to express a hypothetical or polite wish about the present or future:

Me gustaría que vinieras. (more natural)
✱Me gustaría que vengas. (understood but sounds odd or non‑standard in many varieties)

So:

Le gustaría que nos atreviéramos… is the standard, natural form.
Le gustaría que nos atrevamos… sounds wrong to most speakers.

You might see present subjunctive after quiero que or es importante que (e.g. Quiero que vengas), but me/te/le gustaría que… strongly prefers the imperfect subjunctive.

What is the function of nos in nos atreviéramos? Is it an object?

Here nos is not an object in the usual sense; it’s a reflexive pronoun that’s part of the verb atreverse:

Infinitive: atreverse (a) – to dare (to)
1st person plural (present): nos atrevemos – we dare
1st person plural (imp. subj.): nos atreviéramos

So:

atreviéramos by itself really doesn’t appear; the normal form is nos atreviéramos.
The pronoun nos shows that “we” are both the subject and the ones experiencing the action: we dare ourselves, i.e. we dare.

It’s similar to “se” in atreverse for other persons:

Me atrevo, te atreves, se atreve, nos atrevemos, os atrevéis, se atreven.

Could the nos in nos atreviéramos go somewhere else in the sentence?

Because atreviéramos is a conjugated verb form, the reflexive pronoun must go before it:

Correct:
- …que nos atreviéramos a expresar…

You cannot attach nos to the end of atreviéramos:

✗ …que atreviéramosnos… (incorrect)

However, if you change the structure to an infinitive, then the pronoun can be attached:

…que pudiéramos atrevernos a expresar…
(here atrevernos = atrever + nos)

So: with finite (conjugated) verb, pronoun goes before;
with infinitive, gerund, or affirmative command, it can go after, attached.

Why is it atreverse a + infinitive (a expresar) and not atreverse de or nothing?

The verb atreverse in Spanish is constructed as:

atreverse a + infinitive – to dare to do something

So you always need a before the infinitive:

Me atrevo a hablar. – I dare to speak.
¿Te atreves a decirlo? – Do you dare to say it?
Nos atreviéramos a expresar… – (that) we would dare to express…

You don’t say:

✗ atrever(se) de + infinitive (wrong)
✗ atrever(se) + infinitive (without a is wrong in standard Spanish)

The “a” is just part of the normal government of the verb atreverse.

What’s the difference between atreviéramos and atreviésemos?

They are two forms of the same tense and mood: imperfect subjunctive.

nos atreviéramos – ‑ra form
nos atreviésemos – ‑se form

In modern Spanish:

Both are grammatically correct and mean exactly the same thing.
In Spain, both forms are understood; the ‑ra form (atreviéramos) is generally more common in everyday speech.

So you could also say:

A nuestra profesora le gustaría que nos atreviésemos a expresar nuestras ideas en voz alta.

It sounds a bit more formal or literary to some ears, but it’s fine.

What does en voz alta literally mean, and are there alternatives?

Literally, en voz alta means:

“in a high voice” → i.e. out loud / aloud

It’s a very common fixed expression:

Leer en voz alta – to read out loud
Pensar en voz alta – to think out loud
Hablar en voz alta – to speak loudly / out loud

Alternatives:

en alta voz – also correct but sounds a bit more formal/literary.
Just alto usually means loud in volume, not necessarily “out loud” vs. “silently”:
- Habla más alto. – Speak louder.
- Léelo en voz alta. – Read it out loud (not silently).

In this context, en voz alta is the most natural expression to mean “not silently / so others can hear us.”

Could this sentence be said in other natural ways in Peninsular (Spain) Spanish?

Yes, there are several natural paraphrases that keep the same idea. For example:

A nuestra profesora le gustaría que expresáramos nuestras ideas en voz alta.
- Uses expresáramos instead of nos atreviéramos a expresar; focuses more on expressing than on daring.
A nuestra profesora le gustaría que nos animáramos a expresar nuestras ideas en voz alta.
- animarnos = to cheer ourselves up / get up the courage; similar nuance to atrevernos.
A nuestra profesora le encantaría que nos atreviéramos a decir nuestras ideas en voz alta.
- le encantaría = she would love it (stronger than would like).
Nuestra profesora quiere que expresemos nuestras ideas en voz alta.
- Same basic content but with quiere (wants), which is stronger and less hypothetical/polite than le gustaría.

The original sentence is perfectly natural Spanish from Spain, especially in a school / classroom context.