“Cuando llegues”: the future that is not a future tense
CEFR B2 · part 2
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
“Quería que vinieras”: the tense drags the mood with itMatching the subjunctive to the main verb: present with present (“quiero que vengas”)…“Sin embargo”, “por tanto”, “en cambio”The connectors that hold an argument together, and what each one promises: “sin…“Serán las tres”: a future that is not about the futureUsing the future for a guess about now (“serán las tres”, “estará en casa”) and the…“Fue construido” or “estaba construido”Telling the action apart from the state it leaves behind: “la puerta fue cerrada a las…“Un momentito”: the diminutive is not about sizeWhat “-ito” really adds: affection (“abuelita”), politeness (“un momentito”), softening…“Acabar de”, “acabar con”, “acabar por”Verbs whose meaning changes entirely with the preposition: “acabar de/con/por”, “dar…The rule, in three lines
After cuando, en cuanto, hasta que, mientras and siempre que, Spanish uses the subjunctive when the moment has NOT arrived yet — cuando llegues, llámame — and the indicative when it is a habit or something already over: cuando llego, siempre llamo.
The usual slip. Using the present indicative for something still to come: cuando llegas, te llamo, which a Spanish speaker hears as “whenever you arrive”.
Why it catches you out. English also refuses the future here — “when you arrive, call me” — so your instinct hands you the present indicative and nothing feels wrong. The sentence that comes out is perfectly grammatical Spanish and means something else: a habit instead of a plan. Nobody corrects it, because there is nothing to correct; they just answer a question you did not ask.