Learn Hardcore Spanish (Latin America): No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve. - I don't want to use the motorcycle when it rains.

You don’t say:
✗ Quiero no usar la moto (possible in some contexts, but it sounds like “I want not to use the motorbike,” which is a bit different in nuance and less common).

Why is it usar la moto and not usar a la moto?

In Spanish, you use the preposition a before a direct object only when it’s:

a person, or
a personified animal/thing.

Examples:

Veo a María. = I see María.
Quiero a mi perro. = I love my dog.

But moto is an inanimate object, so you don’t use a:

Quiero usar la moto. ✅
✗ Quiero usar a la moto. ❌

Why is it la moto and not el moto? Is moto feminine?

Yes, moto is feminine: la moto.

That’s because moto is an abbreviation of la motocicleta, which is a feminine noun. When Spanish uses shortened forms, the gender of the original full word is kept:

la foto (from la fotografía)
la bici (from la bicicleta)
la moto (from la motocicleta)

So you say:

la moto, una moto, esta moto, mi moto

Could I say No quiero usar mi moto instead of la moto?

Yes, you can.

No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve.
Often understood as “the motorbike (I use / we know about)”.
No quiero usar mi moto cuando llueve.
Emphasizes that it’s my motorbike.

In real conversation, la moto is very often used when it’s clear from context which motorbike you’re talking about—often your own.

Why is there no word for it in cuando llueve? Shouldn’t it be like “when it rains”?

Spanish doesn’t use a separate subject pronoun (it) for weather expressions. The verb itself works like “it rains”:

llueve = it rains / it is raining
nieva = it snows / it is snowing
hace frío = it’s cold

So:

cuando llueve literally = “when it-rains” (all in that one verb).

What’s the difference between cuando llueve and cuando está lloviendo?

Both are understandable, but they have slightly different feels:

cuando llueve
- Simple, very common, and neutral.
- Often used for general or habitual situations.
- No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve.
  = I don’t like using it whenever it rains / when it rains in general.
cuando está lloviendo
- Literally “when it is raining.”
- Emphasizes the action in progress, like “at the time that it’s raining.”
- No quiero usar la moto cuando está lloviendo.
  = I don’t want to use it while it’s raining (at that moment).

In everyday speech, cuando llueve is more typical and perfectly natural for this sentence.

Could I say Cuando llueve, no quiero usar la moto? Is the word order flexible?

Yes, that’s completely correct and very natural:

No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve.
Cuando llueve, no quiero usar la moto.

Both mean the same. In Spanish you can usually move time clauses (cuando…, si…, aunque…) to the beginning or end of the sentence without changing the meaning. Adding a comma when the cuando-clause comes first is standard in writing:

Cuando llueve, no quiero usar la moto. ✅

Why is it cuando llueve and not cuando llueva? I thought cuando sometimes needs the subjunctive.

Good observation. Cuando can take either:

indicative (like llueve)
subjunctive (like llueva)

The choice depends on the meaning:

Habitual / general / present-time fact → indicative
- No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve.
  = In general, whenever it rains, I don’t want to use the motorbike.
Future / not-yet-realized action → subjunctive
- No voy a usar la moto cuando llueva.
  = I’m not going to use the motorbike when it rains (in the future).

In your sentence, the idea is a general habit, so llueve (indicative) is correct.

Can I replace llueve with llueva here without changing the rest of the sentence?

Not naturally.

No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve. ✅
Habitual/general: “I don’t like using it when it rains.”
No quiero usar la moto cuando llueva. ❌ (very odd)
With quiero in the present simple and no clear future reference, llueva sounds wrong here.

If you really want llueva, you usually need a future or a command that refers to a future event:

No voy a usar la moto cuando llueva. ✅
No uses la moto cuando llueva. ✅

Could I say No la quiero usar cuando llueve or No quiero usarla cuando llueve? Where does the pronoun go?

Yes, both are correct, and both mean:

I don’t want to use it (the motorbike) when it rains.

You can place the direct object pronoun la (referring to la moto) in two ways:

Before the conjugated verb:
- No la quiero usar cuando llueve.
Attached to the infinitive:
- No quiero usarla cuando llueve.

Both are standard. Choice is mostly style and rhythm; learners often find No la quiero usar easier at first.

Why is it cuando llueve and not cuando está lloviendo if in English we often say “when it’s raining”?

Spanish doesn’t need the continuous aspect as often as English does. Simple present is more widely used:

English:
“I don’t like to drive when it’s raining.”
Very natural Spanish:
- No me gusta manejar cuando llueve.
- No quiero usar la moto cuando llueve.

Cuando está lloviendo is possible, but cuando llueve is shorter and completely idiomatic for general or habitual situations.

How do you pronounce llueve in Latin American Spanish? Does ll have a special sound?

In most of Latin America, ll is pronounced the same as y. This phenomenon is called yeísmo.

So llueve is pronounced almost like:

“yweh-beh” (approximation in English sounds)

Syllables: llue-ve (two syllables), with the stress on the first syllable:

LLUE-ve

Regional variations:

Many speakers: “yweh-beh”
Some places in Argentina/Uruguay: more like “zhweh-beh” (with a zh sound)

Why is quiero usar two verbs? Could it be just one verb?

Spanish often uses a conjugated verb + infinitive structure, similar to English “want to use”:

Quiero usar la moto.
- quiero = I want
- usar = to use

You can’t merge them into a single verb; Spanish doesn’t have a one-word equivalent like “I use-want”. So the pattern is:

Quiero comer. = I want to eat.
Quiero ir. = I want to go.
Quiero usar la moto. = I want to use the motorbike.