Cuando hace fresco, me gusta caminar en la playa.

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Breakdown of Cuando hace fresco, me gusta caminar en la playa.

• gustar: to like
• caminar: to walk
• cuando: when

Questions & Answers about Cuando hace fresco, me gusta caminar en la playa.

Why is it cuando hace fresco and not cuando haga fresco?

Because this sentence describes a habitual situation: Whenever it’s cool, I like to walk on/at the beach.

In Spanish, when cuando refers to something that happens regularly or generally, you use the indicative:

• Cuando hace fresco, me gusta caminar...

If you are talking about a future situation, Spanish usually uses the subjunctive:

• Cuando haga fresco, iremos a la playa.
  • When it’s cool, we’ll go to the beach.

So here, hace is correct because the sentence is about a general habit.

Why does Spanish say hace fresco?

This is a very common weather expression in Spanish. For weather, Spanish often uses hacer instead of to be.

Examples:

• Hace calor = It’s hot
• Hace frío = It’s cold
• Hace fresco = It’s cool / It’s pleasantly chilly
• Hace sol = It’s sunny
• Hace viento = It’s windy

So even though English says it is cool, Spanish says it makes coolness, in a way. It’s just an idiomatic pattern you learn as a set expression.