Quando eu encontrar minha avó, vou abraçá-la.

Because Portuguese uses the future subjunctive after quando when you are talking about a future event.

So:

• quando eu encontrar = when I meet / when I find
• quando eu encontro would usually mean when(ever) I meet in a habitual sense
• quando eu vou encontrar is not the normal structure here

Compare:

• Quando eu encontrar minha avó, vou abraçá-la. = a specific future situation
• Quando eu encontro minha avó, eu a abraço. = whenever I meet my grandmother, I hug her

A useful rule: after words like quando, se, assim que, logo que, Portuguese often uses the future subjunctive for future meaning.

In this sentence, encontrar is not the infinitive. It is the future subjunctive form.

For many regular verbs, the future subjunctive in the eu form looks exactly like the infinitive:

• falar → quando eu falar
• comer → quando eu comer
• partir → quando eu partir
• encontrar → quando eu encontrar

So even though it looks like the dictionary form, its job in the sentence is different.

Yes, it can be omitted.

Portuguese often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb form already shows who the subject is. So these both work:

• Quando eu encontrar minha avó, vou abraçá-la.
• Quando encontrar minha avó, vou abraçá-la.

Including eu can add a bit of clarity, contrast, or emphasis, but it is not required.

Both are possible in Brazilian Portuguese.

• minha avó
• a minha avó

In Brazil, possessives like meu/minha/seu/sua often appear with the article, but they can also appear without it. In this sentence, minha avó sounds perfectly natural.

So this is mostly a matter of usage and style, not a change in core meaning.

• avó = grandmother
• avô = grandfather

The accent matters:

• ó in avó
• ô in avô

So they are different words, even though they look very similar.

Because ir + infinitive is extremely common in Brazilian Portuguese for future meaning.

So:

• vou abraçá-la = very common, natural
• abraçarei = correct, but more formal or literary

Both mean basically the same thing here, but in everyday Brazilian Portuguese, vou + infinitive is usually the more normal choice.

-la means her.

It is a direct object pronoun referring back to minha avó.

So:

• abraçar minha avó = to hug my grandmother
• abraçá-la = to hug her

Portuguese often replaces a repeated noun with an object pronoun like this.

This happens because of how standard Portuguese attaches object pronouns to infinitives.

Step by step:

1. Base verb: abraçar
2. Direct object pronoun: a = her
3. After verbs ending in -r, -s, or -z, the pronoun changes:
   • o / a / os / as → lo / la / los / las
4. The final -r of the verb drops
5. An accent is added to preserve the stress

So:

• abraçar + a → abraçá-la

That is why you see:

• hyphen: abraçá-la
• accent: á

Yes, many Brazilians do say vou abraçar ela in everyday speech.

But there is a difference in register:

• vou abraçá-la = more standard, especially in careful writing
• vou abraçar ela = very common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese

So if you are learning formal grammar, vou abraçá-la is the form to know. If you are listening to real conversation in Brazil, vou abraçar ela is also very common.

The comma separates the time clause from the main clause:

• Quando eu encontrar minha avó, = time clause
• vou abraçá-la. = main clause

When the subordinate clause comes first, Portuguese normally uses a comma.

If you reverse the order, the comma is often omitted:

• Vou abraçá-la quando eu encontrar minha avó.

Both word orders are correct; the version with quando... first gives a little more emphasis to the time condition.