Tell me when it's closed

Question

La ventana está abierta. Dime cuando está cerrada.

The window is open. Tell me when it is closed.

Is this correct?

Looks good to me! - Jubilado, Oct 13, 2014

I would think the second needs to be "cuando esté", subjunctive because it is referring to a future event that has not yet happened as is still hypothetical. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 13, 2014

I meant and is still hypothetical. :( - bosquederoble, Oct 13, 2014

Answer 1

Bosquederoble's comment brings up a good point. Many times when you begin a sentence with cuando it requires the subjunctive after it in just such a situation. My opinion here is that either is correct depending on how certain you are that the door will be closed. If this is a question in answer to a quiz or class it may be emphasizing that very point.

Perhaps a native speaker will respond and clarify it at least for me. I have my conversational Spanish tomorrow afternoon so I will try to remember to bring this up.

Stay tuned! I will.

I just talked to a Colombian friend. She said that it would be esté always, not está. We could not have a grammatical or involved conversation but in the final analysis bosquederoble is absolutely correct. Case closed!

I hope this was useful to the poster.

I personally have been told that no matter how sure you are that it is going to happen, if it has not yet happened, and you are not referring to a habitual or recurring event, it should be subjunctive, so I too would welcome native input. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 13, 2014

After your edit: it was definitely useful to me anyway. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 13, 2014

Answer 2

You might find it useful to have a look at what the DPD says:

Sin antecedente, introduce oraciones subordinadas adverbiales de tiempo, con el sentido de ‘en el momento en que’....Si estas oraciones expresan tiempo futuro o hipotético, se construyen en el español moderno con el verbo en subjuntivo....

© Real Academia Española, 2014

Answer 3

I did find this:

enter link description here

Grammar Genius,

>

Why do I say ¨Cuando vuelve¨ if there isn´t any doubt about my returning?

One has to assume the questioner meant cuando vuelva.

First off, the subjunctive is not always used in situations of doubt. In fact, it is very common to use the subjunctive when there is ZERO doubt.

'Cuando' along with other similar words such as 'hasta que' and 'tan pronto como' belong to a group of subordinators (words that link two clauses together) called 'time subordinators.'

Whenever these time subordinators point to an event that is or was in the future, it takes the subjunctive. In fact, it is incorrect to use the future or conditional tense in a subordinate phrase.

I tip my hat to you, friend. Thanks! - Jubilado, Oct 13, 2014