Spanish · Chapter 28 · Lesson 8 · Grammar primer
The subjunctive in adverbial clauses
cuando llegues, para que sepas, aunque llueva - time, purpose, concession and proviso conjunctions that take the subjunctive, and the pending-vs-real rule that decides cuando/aunque between subjunctive and indicative.
The short version
A future cuando takes the subjunctive
The time conjunctions sit on a hinge. Cuando, en cuanto, hasta que and the rest take the subjunctive when the event has not happened yet, and the indicative when it is habitual or already past. A routine stays indicative. If the main clause carries a future or a command, expect the subjunctive in the time clause.
En cuanto termine, te aviso.
Aunque llueve or aunque llueva
Aunque means both 'even though' and 'even if', and the mood is what tells them apart. With the indicative you concede rain you can see out of the window; with the subjunctive you concede rain that might never come. It is not a stylistic choice: it tells your listener whether the concession is real or merely supposed.
Aunque llueva, saldremos.
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