The subjunctive after cuando: has it happened yet?

Adverbial clauses at a glance

The top four always introduce something that has not happened: an aim, a condition or a later event. So they never change. The bottom four can describe something real, so the mood tells you whether it is. AQA GCSE Spanish puts cuando about the future and para que on the Higher tier.

Time conjunctions: has it happened yet?

Cuando, en cuanto, hasta que, tan pronto como and mientras take the subjunctive for an event still to come, and the indicative for a routine or a past event:

In English:

• Cuando termines, avísame. - When you finish, let me know.
• Trabajo hasta que cierran. - I work until they close (every day).
• Mientras estés aquí, come con nosotros. - While you're here, eat with us.

The quick test is the main clause. A future or a command (avísame, te llamo, esperaré) points at something not yet real, so the time clause takes the subjunctive. A routine or a story about the past keeps the indicative:

• Cuando llegué a casa, cené. - When I got home, I had dinner.

Después de que follows the same rule for the future: Después de que cenemos, saldremos. (after we've had dinner, we'll go out). For a past event the indicative is the safe choice: Después de que cenamos, salimos. (after we had dinner, we went out). News Spanish often uses the -ra form there too (después de que cenáramos), and that is accepted.

Antes de que: always the subjunctive

Antes de que (before) is the one time conjunction that never takes the indicative, even about the past. At the moment in question, the event had not happened yet:

• Llámame antes de que salgas. - Call me before you leave.
• Salimos antes de que llegaran. - We left before they arrived.

After a past main verb it normally takes the -ra form (llegaran), like the subjunctive after any past verb. With one subject for both halves, Spanish uses the infinitive instead: Ceno antes de salir. (I have dinner before going out).