Subjunctive vs. Future
Why do you say- "cuando llegue" using the subjunctive tense, and not "cuando llegaré" in the future tense?
4 Answers
Think in English first then.
Do you say:
...when I will come?
or
...when I come?
You use the second one, right?
And it looks like it is in the present form, but in reality it is the subjunctive form.
But isn't the future tense also talks about things that are uncertain?
This is an important question if you are thinking about the subjunctive. As Chileno points out, the idea of the subjunctive, which is independent of language but expressed through language, exists on its own, but it is expressed differently in different languages.
If you say "I am going to the store" or "I will go to the store", this is a statement of fact and takes the indicative mood in English and Spanish.
To say "When I go to the store" you are not making a statement of fact. You may or may not go. In Spanish, you use the subjunctive mood. In English this is not explicitly expressed. But you can say the same thing, albeit in an old fashioned way, by saying "Should I go to the store I will buy some butter." Verbs and helpers like should or might often express the subjunctive mood in English.
Similarly, we don't say "I wish I was Caesar". We say "I wish I were Caesar", at least we do if we are speaking English in grammatically correct way.
Of course if you were subjected to Latin, like I was, you might remember that there is an optative mood as well. So the tranalation from Latin would go "Would that I were Caesar."
Were we to be frustrated learning the Spanish subjunctive (subjunctive because the 'if' is implicit), would (optative) that we should (conditional) count our blessings, were (subjunctive again) we able!
When you have an independant clause and a dependant clause plus an action occurring in the future, the dependant clause takes the present subjunctive. This is because the action has not happened yet. It may or may not happen; therefore there is uncertainty. If an event has already happened, it is deemed certain and factual. Look at the two examples: I left when he arrived -Yo salí cuando él llegó. (past event, already completed action) I will leave when he arrives- Yo saldré cuando él llegue (future event, has not happened, may or may not happen, therefore must use subjunctive in dependent clause)...Hopefully this explanation helps you! ¡Buena suerte!
It's just the language's syntax. In English you use the present tense, in Spanish we use the subjuntive, and I think that in French they use the future. I hope that helps
