Cuando (When) is followed by a verb in the subjunctive mood, to express an intention to make it happen in the future.
Read and listen to these examples:
Cuando sea mayor, seré médico.
When I am older, I will be a doctor.
Cuando vayas al mercado compra fruta y verdura.
When you go to the market, buy fruit and vegetables.
Cuando estemos de vacaciones no usaré el móvil.
When we are on holidays I won't use the mobile phone.
Cuando os tumbéis en la playa poneos la crema solar.
When you lie down on the beach put some suncream on.
Cuando comáis esta noche recoged los platos.
When you eat tonight, put the dishes away.
Cuando tus hermanos lleguen será muy tarde.
When your brothers arrive it will be very late.
See these two similar examples, one with indicative and one with subjunctive:
In this sentence the going on holidays to Tenerife really happens.
Cuando voy de vacaciones a Tenerife me hospedo en el hotel Olimpia.
When I go on holiday to Tenerife I stay at the hotel Olimpia.
In this next sentence the going on holidays to Tenerife has not happened. It is a future idea. Notice that the future tense follows the subjunctive here.
Cuando vaya de vacaciones a Tenerife me hospedaré en el hotel Olimpia.
When I [will] go on holiday to Tenerife I will stay at the hotel Olimpia.
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
Cuando vaya de vacaciones a Tenerife me hospedaré en el hotel Olimpia.
When I [will] go on holiday to Tenerife I will stay at the hotel Olimpia.
Cuando os tumbéis en la playa poneos la crema solar.
When you lie down on the beach put some suncream on.
Cuando voy de vacaciones a Tenerife me hospedo en el hotel Olimpia.
When I go on holiday to Tenerife I stay at the hotel Olimpia.
Cuando sea mayor, seré médico.
When I am older, I will be a doctor.
Cuando estemos de vacaciones no usaré el móvil.
When we are on holidays I won't use the mobile phone.
Cuando tus hermanos lleguen será muy tarde.
When your brothers arrive it will be very late.
Cuando vayas al mercado compra fruta y verdura.
When you go to the market, buy fruit and vegetables.
Cuando comáis esta noche recoged los platos.
When you eat tonight, put the dishes away.
Q&A
Gruff
Kwiziq language super star
11/04/18
Hi Dawn - this is explained in the lesson. The subjunctive follows cuando when expressing an intention. The indicative follows when expressing a fact (the parasol blowing away is fact).
Hope that helps.
William
Kwiziq community member
29 December 2017
3 replies
Cuando + presente de Subjuntivo to express future intentions
How would you say "When she opens her presents at Christmas she often gets perfume"? The answer given is: "Cuando ella abre sus regalos en navidad a menudo tiene perfume." The present subjunctive for abrir (3rd person) is abra, no?
Silvia
Kwiziq language super star
29/12/17
Nev
Kwiziq community member
20/01/18
Silvia
Kwiziq language super star
22/01/18
Silvia
Kwiziq language super star
20/11/17
Meghan
Kwiziq community member
21 August 2018
1 reply
¿Dónde quieres comer cuando salgamos esta noche?
In order to use salgamos wouldn't querer need to be in the future -querrás? At least that is what I thought according to the lesson, but the choices in the question only gave answers using quieres so I didn't know how to apply the lesson to this question.
Inma
Kwiziq language super star
21 August 2018
21/08/18
Hi Meghan, we sometimes use the present tense to express "future" like in this case, especially with "querer+infinitive". This lesson is about using either the subjunctive or the indicative after "cuando", that's why it needs the subjunctive. You could easily say this as well without changing the meaning: "¿Dónde querrás comer cuando salgamos esta noche?" but both options are expressing a future idea in the first part of the sentence. It sounds more natural to say in Spanish "¿Dónde quieres comer...?, that's why we chose that one.
I hope it helped.
Inma