Cuando llueve, me escondo en mi cuarto.

I

Breakdown of Cuando llueve, me escondo en mi cuarto.

• en: in
• mi: my
• cuando: when

Questions & Answers about Cuando llueve, me escondo en mi cuarto.

Why is cuando followed by the indicative form llueve rather than the subjunctive?

Because in Spanish, when cuando introduces a habitual action or a general truth (“whenever it rains”), you use the indicative. The subjunctive after cuando only appears if you’re talking about a future event that is uncertain or hasn’t occurred yet (“Te llamaré cuando llueva”).

Why are both verbs in the present tense (llueve / me escondo) instead of past or future?

This sentence describes a recurring or habitual action: “Whenever it rains, I hide in my room.” Spanish often uses the simple present to express habits or routines, just like English.

Why is me escondo reflexive? Can we say just escondo?

Esconder is transitive, but when you want to say “I hide myself,” you use the reflexive form esconderse: me escondo. Simply escondo would need a direct object (e.g. escondo el libro – “I hide the book”).

Why is the reflexive pronoun me placed before escondo?

In simple tenses like the present indicative, Spanish places object and reflexive pronouns before the conjugated verb: me escondo, te escondes, etc. (With infinitives, gerunds, or affirmative commands the pronoun can attach to the end.)

Is the comma after Cuando llueve mandatory?