Breakdown of Cuando tengo poco tiempo, la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
Questions & Answers about Cuando tengo poco tiempo, la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
In Spanish, after cuando you normally use:
- Present indicative (as here: tengo) when talking about habitual situations or general truths.
- Present subjunctive after cuando only when talking about a future event that is uncertain or not yet realized, usually in combination with a main clause in the future, imperative, or similar.
In this sentence:
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo, la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
→ Describes a general, repeated situation: Whenever I have little time, the best option is to do a short exercise.
So tengo (present indicative) is correct.
If you were talking about a specific future situation, you would still often use the present indicative in Spanish (even though English uses the future):
- Cuando tenga poco tiempo, haré un ejercicio corto. – uses subjunctive tenga, future haré → more like “When I have little time (on that future occasion), I will do a short exercise.”
Here the sentence is clearly habitual, so tengo is the natural choice.
Both are correct but they mean different things:
poco tiempo = little time / not much time
→ Emphasizes insufficiency or scarcity (it’s almost not enough).un poco de tiempo = a little time / some time
→ Emphasizes that you do have a small amount, and it may be enough.
In this sentence:
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo…
suggests: when I’m short of time / when I don’t really have enough time.
If you said:
- Cuando tengo un poco de tiempo, la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
it would sound more like: When I have a bit of time (i.e. some free time)… – less about being rushed and more about simply having a small window.
In Spanish, tiempo behaves like an uncountable noun when you mean “time” in general:
- No tengo tiempo. – I don’t have (any) time.
- Necesito tiempo. – I need time.
You only use el tiempo when you refer to:
Specific time already mentioned or defined:
- El tiempo que tengo es limitado. – The time I have is limited.
“Weather”:
- El tiempo está muy malo. – The weather is very bad.
Here:
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo…
uses tiempo in the general, uncountable sense: when I have little time.
So there is no article.
The article la matches the grammatical gender of the noun opción.
- opción is a feminine noun → la opción
- Superlative mejor (“best”) agrees only in number, not in gender, so:
- la mejor opción – the best option (feminine singular)
- las mejores opciones – the best options (feminine plural)
Using el mejor opción would be incorrect because opción is feminine.
Correct patterns:
- la mejor opción
- una buena opción
- esa opción
You need the verb ser (es) to link the subject and the complement:
- la mejor opción = subject
- es = verb “to be”
- hacer un ejercicio corto = complement (what the best option consists of)
Spanish requires this linking verb:
- La mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto. – The best option is to do a short exercise.
Without es, the sentence is grammatically incomplete:
- ✗ La mejor opción hacer un ejercicio corto. – incorrect.
After structures like:
- lo mejor es + infinitive
- la mejor opción es + infinitive
- una buena idea es + infinitive
Spanish uses the infinitive to express a general action.
So:
- La mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
= The best option is to do a short exercise.
You are not conjugating hacer for a particular subject here; you are naming the action in general, just like English to do or doing:
- Spanish infinitive: hacer
- English equivalents: “to do” / “doing”
In Spanish, the default position for most adjectives is after the noun:
- un ejercicio corto – a short exercise
Putting an adjective before the noun is less common and usually:
- Adds a more subjective or poetic nuance, or
- Is restricted to a few common adjectives (like buen, mal, gran).
Un corto ejercicio is grammatically possible but would sound unusual or literary in most everyday contexts. The natural, neutral way to say it is:
- un ejercicio corto
They mean different things:
hacer un ejercicio (with article and usually singular or plural count):
- Literally “to do an exercise / one exercise”.
- Refers to one specific exercise (in a book, in a class, or a concrete short physical routine).
- Example:
- Voy a hacer un ejercicio de gramática. – I’m going to do a grammar exercise.
hacer ejercicio (no article, uncountable expression):
- Means “to exercise / to work out” (physical exercise in general).
- Example:
- Quiero hacer más ejercicio. – I want to exercise more.
In the sentence:
- hacer un ejercicio corto
sounds like one discrete short exercise (either a specific workout set, or one task in a workbook), not exercising in general.
On its own, ejercicio can mean either:
- Physical exercise / workout, especially with verbs like hacer.
- Exercise / task in a book, test, or activity sheet.
In Spain, both meanings are common. Without context, hacer un ejercicio corto could be:
- A short physical exercise (e.g., a quick set of push-ups), or
- A short written/mental exercise (e.g., one grammar exercise from a textbook).
If you want to be clearer, you can specify:
- un ejercicio físico corto – a short physical exercise.
- un ejercicio de gramática corto – a short grammar exercise.
- Or use actividad / tarea if you mean a school task:
hacer una actividad corta, hacer una tarea corta.
Yes, you can. Both are correct, but there is a nuance:
lo mejor es hacer un ejercicio corto
= the best thing is to do a short exercise
→ More general, less “choice-based”. It simply states what’s best.la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto
= the best option is to do a short exercise
→ Suggests there are several possible options, and doing a short exercise is the best among them.
In everyday speech, lo mejor es… is very common and slightly more natural-sounding.
In more “formal” or “decision-focused” contexts, la mejor opción es… fits well.
Yes, that word order is correct:
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo, hacer un ejercicio corto es la mejor opción.
Both versions are fine:
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo, la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo, hacer un ejercicio corto es la mejor opción.
The difference is only in focus:
- Version 1 focuses first on the “best option” as an abstract thing.
- Version 2 highlights first the action hacer un ejercicio corto and then says that this action is the best option.
In everyday speech, both sound natural.
In Spanish, when a sentence begins with a dependent clause (a subordinate clause) like Cuando tengo poco tiempo, it is standard to use a comma before the main clause:
- Cuando tengo poco tiempo, la mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto.
If you reverse the order, you usually don’t put a comma:
- La mejor opción es hacer un ejercicio corto cuando tengo poco tiempo.
So the comma simply marks the boundary between the introductory cuando-clause and the main clause that follows.