Subjunctive or present tense indicative.
If I were to say "When my mom goes to church she brings a purse" would I use the subjunctive. . .Cuando mi mama vaya para la iglesia ella trae una bolsa. Or would "Cuando mi mama va para la iglesia ella trae una bolsa" be correct?
2 Answers
Hello, and welcome to the forum. Though I agree with Nicole that the sentence is stating a fact, and that rationale is one way to think about it, I think davipete's confusion stems from the fact that cuando is often followed by the subjunctive and sometimes not. For example, Comerémos cuando llegues. In this case, I like to distinguish between sentences describing 'habitual actions' (which require the indicative) and an 'unspecified time of occurrence' (which require the subjunctive). In this case, the present indicative is used because it is a sentence about a habitual action. The sentence does not mean, "When she goes to church, whenever that may be, probably around 9am, she'll take her purse." Rather, it's saying, "Every time she goes to church, she takes her purse." Nicole is absolutely right; I just find it more helpful to think about it this way.
Hi and welcome to the forum,
You would use the present tense indicative since your sentence is stating a fact.
