Spanish Subjunctive in Adverbial Clauses: cuando, para que

Some conjunctions take the subjunctive every time: para que, sin que, a menos que. Others, such as cuando and aunque, take it only when the event is not yet a fact:

• Cuando llegues, llámame. - When you arrive, call me. (not yet)
• Cuando llego a casa, ceno. - When I get home, I have dinner. (every day)

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).

Purpose: para que and a fin de que

A purpose is an aim, not a fact, so para que (so that) takes the subjunctive every time. A fin de que means the same and sounds formal:

• Te lo digo para que lo sepas. - I'm telling you so that you know.
• Hablo despacio para que me entiendan. - I speak slowly so that they understand me.
• Te doy el mapa a fin de que no te pierdas. - I'm giving you the map so that you don't get lost.

De modo que and de manera que take the subjunctive for an aim and the indicative for a result that happened:

Conditions: a menos que, con tal de que, en caso de que

A condition is offered, not stated as fact, so these take the subjunctive every time. There is no indicative version to learn:

Con tal que, without the de, is also correct. Siempre que has a second meaning, whenever, and then it describes a habit, so it takes the indicative:

• Siempre que vengo, comemos juntos. - Whenever I come, we eat together.

Same subject: an infinitive instead

Para que, sin que and antes de que normally have a second subject. When the same person does both things, drop the que and use the infinitive:

"Estudio para que apruebe" is wrong when the person studying is the one passing.

Aunque: even if or even though

Aunque means both even though and even if. Spanish tells them apart with the mood: the indicative concedes a fact, the subjunctive a possibility:

If you can see the rain from the window, it is aunque llueve. If you are guessing about tomorrow, aunque llueva.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Learn the always list as one chant: para que, sin que, a menos que, antes de que.
2. Do the story and sort drills below.
3. Then the perfect subjunctive, for cuando hayas terminado.