Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado esta temporada de la serie. - When you come back from your vacation, we will have finished this season of the series.

In Spanish, after time expressions like cuando, en cuanto, después de que, etc., you normally use the present subjunctive when you are talking about a future action that hasn’t happened yet.

Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones… = When you come back from your vacation (in the future)… → not done yet → subjunctive (vuelvas).
If you say Cuando vuelves de tus vacaciones…, it sounds like you’re talking about something habitual or already scheduled, not a single unknown future event.

Compare:

Cuando llegas tarde, me molesto.
When you arrive late, I get annoyed. (habit → indicative)
Cuando llegues tarde, me voy a molestar.
When you arrive late (in the future), I’m going to get annoyed. (future, not yet → subjunctive)

Could I say Cuando vuelves de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado…?

For this meaning, no; it sounds off to native speakers.

Cuando vuelves… (present indicative) suggests:
- a habitual situation (Whenever you come back…), or
- something seen as certain/scheduled, not just “whenever that future moment comes”.

But the sentence is talking about one specific future return that hasn’t happened yet, so Spanish expects the subjunctive:

Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado… ✅ (natural)
Cuando vuelves de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado… ❌ (tense clash / sounds wrong)

Why is the future perfect habremos terminado used here?

Habremos terminado (future perfect) expresses an action that will be finished before another future point.

Timeline:

Future point A: you come back from vacation (cuando vuelvas).
Future point B: we finish the season.

By using habremos terminado, the speaker says:
By the time you come back, the season will already be finished.

So:

habremos terminado ≈ we will have finished (by then)

How is habremos terminado formed grammatically?

It’s the future perfect (also called future compound tense):

Future of haber + past participle

haber in simple future, 1st person plural: habremos
past participle of terminar: terminado

So:

habremos terminado = we will have finished

Other forms:

habré terminado – I will have finished
habrás terminado – you (tú) will have finished
habrá terminado – he/she/you (usted) will have finished
habremos terminado – we will have finished
habréis terminado – you (vosotros) will have finished (mainly Spain)
habrán terminado – they/you (ustedes) will have finished

Could I use terminaremos instead of habremos terminado? Would it change the meaning?

You can say it, but it changes the nuance:

Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado esta temporada…
Focus: Completion before you return. The finishing is already done at that moment.
Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones, terminaremos esta temporada…
Focus: We will finish around/after that time. It sounds like your return and the finishing happen at the same time or afterwards, not necessarily before.

So the original sentence emphasizes:
“By the time you get back, it’ll already be done.”

Why is it de tus vacaciones instead of de las vacaciones or just de vacaciones?

All three are possible in Spanish, but the meaning shifts slightly:

de tus vacaciones
- Literally: from your vacation(s).
- Emphasizes that they are your specific vacations.
- Matches the English sentence closely.
de vacaciones
- Common, very natural: Cuando vuelvas de vacaciones…
- Means when you come back from vacation in general. It’s often clear from context that it’s “your” vacation, so the possessive can be omitted.
de las vacaciones
- Less common here; it suggests some specific, already-known vacations (“the vacations we’ve been talking about”).
- You’d use it if both speakers have a specific, previously mentioned set of holidays in mind.

In Latin American Spanish, Cuando vuelvas de vacaciones… and
Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones… are both very natural.

Why is vacaciones plural in Spanish?

In Spanish, vacaciones is almost always used in the plural:

Estoy de vacaciones. – I’m on vacation.
Voy a tomar unas vacaciones. – I’m going to take a vacation.

The singular vacación does exist but:

It’s relatively rare, and
It tends to appear in more formal or certain Latin American varieties.

For everyday speech in Latin America, think of vacaciones as a plural-only word, similar to “the holidays” in English.

Could I say regreses instead of vuelvas?

Yes, very naturally:

Cuando regreses de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado esta temporada de la serie.

Volver and regresar often mean basically the same thing: to come back / to return.

Nuances:

In much of Latin America, regresar is extremely common and may even sound more natural than volver in some regions.
In Spain, volver is probably more frequent, but regresar is still understood everywhere.

So for Latin American Spanish, both are fine here.

Why is there no tú in cuando vuelvas? Can I add it?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the subject:

vuelvas = “you (tú) come back”
So tú is not needed.

You can add it for emphasis:

Cuando tú vuelvas de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado…

That might stress you in particular, for example, in contrast with someone else:

Cuando tú vuelvas, ya habremos terminado; pero cuando él vuelva, quizá no.
When you come back, we’ll have finished already; but when he comes back, maybe not.

Without special emphasis, native speakers usually omit tú.

What does esta temporada de la serie literally mean, and can I shorten it?

Literally:

esta temporada = this season
de la serie = of the show/series

So esta temporada de la serie = this season of the show.

You can often shorten it to esta temporada if it’s already clear what show you’re talking about:

Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado esta temporada.

Adding de la serie just makes it explicit that temporada refers to a TV series / show, not something like the football season or the rainy season.

Can I change the order of the clauses?

Yes. Both orders are correct:

Cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones, habremos terminado esta temporada de la serie.
Habremos terminado esta temporada de la serie cuando vuelvas de tus vacaciones.

Rules to keep in mind:

When the cuando-clause comes first, you normally put a comma after it.
When it comes second, you usually omit the comma.

Meaning and tense use remain the same in both versions.