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Mi hermano tose cuando hace frío.

Mi hermano tose cuando hace frío.
My brother coughs when it is cold.
FromLesson 36inHardcore Spanish (Latin America)
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Questions & Answers about Mi hermano tose cuando hace frío.

In Spanish, does the present tense in tose express a habit or something happening right now?
Both are possible with the simple present. Here, because of cuando, it’s read as a general habit: My brother coughs whenever it’s cold. For something happening right now, Spanish often prefers the progressive: Mi hermano está tosiendo.
Why is it hace frío and not es frío or está frío?

Weather in Spanish commonly uses hacer: hace frío, hace calor, hace viento.

  • Está frío describes something or someone as cold to the touch: El café está frío.
  • Es frío can describe inherent characteristics: El clima de esa región es frío.
Why doesn’t cuando have an accent, but cuándo sometimes does?

Cuando (no accent) is a connector meaning when. Cuándo (with accent) is used in direct or indirect questions/exclamations.

  • Statement: Mi hermano tose cuando hace frío.
  • Question: ¿Cuándo tose tu hermano?
How do you conjugate toser?
  • Present: yo toso, tú toses, él/ella/usted tose, nosotros tosemos, ustedes/ellos tosen
  • Preterite: yo tosí, tú tosiste, él/ella/usted tosió, nosotros tosimos, ustedes/ellos tosieron
  • Gerund/participle: tosiendo, tosido
How do you pronounce the tricky parts (tose, hace, frío)?
  • tose: TO-se (stress on the first syllable)
  • hace: AH-se (the h is silent; in Latin America, c before e sounds like s)
  • frío: FREE-oh (the accent on í shows the stress and separates it into two syllables: frí-o)
Is frío a noun or an adjective here, and why is there no article?
In hace frío, frío functions as a noun meaning cold (weather) and, in this fixed weather expression, it takes no article. As an adjective, it agrees with nouns: agua fría, viento frío.
Can cuando here be understood as whenever?
Yes. In habitual statements, cuando often translates as whenever: Mi hermano tose cuando hace frío = My brother coughs whenever it’s cold.
When would I use the subjunctive with cuando, like cuando haga frío?

Use the subjunctive for future or not-yet-realized situations:

  • Habit/general fact (indicative): Siempre tose cuando hace frío.
  • Future/uncertain: Cuando haga frío, mi hermano va a toser.
If I mean when he feels cold (not when the weather is cold), what should I say?

Use tener frío for feeling cold: Mi hermano tose cuando tiene frío.

  • Está frío means he is cold to the touch, which is different.
How do I intensify the coldness correctly?

With this weather phrase, use mucho: cuando hace mucho frío.
Use muy when frío is an adjective: El agua está muy fría.

Is the word order flexible?

Yes. Both are fine:

  • Mi hermano tose cuando hace frío.
  • Cuando hace frío, mi hermano tose.
    Use a comma when the cuando-clause comes first.
How would the sentence change for a sister or for plural siblings?
  • Sister: Mi hermana tose cuando hace frío.
  • Plural: Mis hermanos tosen cuando hace frío.
Is there a natural alternative to toser to say he gets a cough?
Yes: A mi hermano le da tos cuando hace frío. Here tos is a noun (cough), and le da roughly means he gets/comes down with.
Can I use the progressive to emphasize it’s happening right now?

Yes: Mi hermano está tosiendo.
With the time idea, you’d usually rephrase: Mi hermano empieza a toser cuando hace frío or Hoy mi hermano está tosiendo porque hace frío.
Avoid está tosiendo cuando… for habitual meaning.

Is there an explicit subject for hace? Why isn’t there an it?
No. Weather expressions like hace frío are impersonal; Spanish uses third-person singular without a subject. Don’t add ello or eso.
Are there Latin American variations with vos?

Yes, in voseo areas:

  • vos tosés (instead of tú toses).
    The weather part stays the same: hace frío.
Why does frío have an accent mark?
The accent on í marks the stressed syllable and breaks the potential diphthong, creating two syllables: frí-o. Without the accent, it would suggest a different stress pattern.
Can I say hay frío or es frío afuera?
The idiomatic choice is hace frío (and you can add afuera: Hace frío afuera). Hay frío is generally avoided, and es/está frío afuera is heard in some places but is less standard than hace frío.
Could I use si instead of cuando?

Yes, to frame it as a condition: Si hace frío, mi hermano tose.

  • Cuando emphasizes time/occurrence.
  • Si emphasizes condition. Both can work here with a slight nuance difference.

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