Cuando se empieze a beber café, a veces se puede .... correct?

Question

Cuando se empieze a beber café, a veces se puede confundir la agustia con la energía repentina que te da.

When you start drinking coffee sometimes you can mistake the anxiety with the sudden energy you get.

This is my word of the day. I got 2 comments one saying

"perfect"

the other saying I should use "Empieza" (with "A") so i'm not sure, is this incorrect?

Answer 1

Even before reading your comment, I was wondering why the indicative mood was not used there.

With the adverbial phrase...cuando.... the subjunctive is normally used when what follows cuando is an anticipated event (future time)

Cuando tu padre llegue a casa....(futuro)....ahora mismo (a este momento) está al trabajo.

At other times, cuando is almost like the conditional... if you do this, then ......where the indicative is used.

thanks, I often don't know when to use the subj. after cuando - dewclaw, Jul 2, 2011

what do you mean like conditonal? - dewclaw, Jul 2, 2011

Answer 2

When writing verbs, the C is always used instead of the Z if either letter gives the same sound (in Castillian Spanish, where "ce" and "se" are different sounds). In the case of "za", "zo", "zu", you can't write "ca", "co", "cu", because the sounds are different.

"Empiece" and "empieze" would be read the same way, so you write "empiece". The sound for "empieza" can only be achieved with "z", so you can't write "empieca" (it would sound like "empieka")