Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Cuando respiremos profundo y cuidemos la respiración antes del examen, estaremos más tranquilas. - When we breathe deeply and take care of our breathing before the exam, we will be calmer.

Here, the breathing will happen in the future and is not a regular habit, it’s a specific future situation before the exam. So Spanish uses the present subjunctive:

Cuando respiremos profundo y cuidemos la respiración antes del examen, estaremos más tranquilas.
→ When we breathe deeply and take care of our breathing before the exam (in the future), we will be calmer.

If it were a habitual situation, you’d use the indicative:

Cuando respiramos profundo antes de los exámenes, estamos más tranquilos.
→ Whenever we breathe deeply before exams, we’re calmer. (general habit)

So:

Future-specific = subjunctive
General/habitual = indicative

Why is it “estaremos” (future) instead of “estamos” (present) in “estaremos más tranquilas”?

The sentence talks about a future result of a future action:

First: we will (at some future point) breathe deeply and take care of our breathing.
Then: as a consequence, we will be calmer.

In Spanish, when you clearly mean future time, it’s very common (and natural) to use the simple future:

estaremos más tranquilas = we’ll be calmer.

Could you say “Cuando respiremos profundo … estamos más tranquilas”?

Grammatically possible, but it sounds more like you’re stating a general rule or habit, not a specific future situation. The future estaremos matches better with the idea of “before the exam (this time / in that situation)”.

Why is it “tranquilas” and not “tranquilos”?

“Tranquilas” is feminine plural, so it matches a female group:

nosotras estaremos más tranquilas → we (women) will be calmer.

In Spanish, adjectives must agree in gender and number with the subject:

All women: nosotras tranquilas
All men: nosotros tranquilos
Mixed group: nosotros tranquilos (masculine is the default for mixed)

So you’d say:

A group of girls: Cuando respiremos… estaremos más tranquilas.
A mixed or male group: Cuando respiremos… estaremos más tranquilos.

Because Spanish often drops the subject pronoun, the -as in tranquilas tells you the implied subject is nosotras.

Why is it “respiremos profundo” and not “respiremos profundamente”?

Both are grammatically correct, but in everyday Spanish:

Using the adjective profundo directly with the verb is very common and sounds more natural and colloquial.
Respirar profundo or respirar hondo are set phrases meaning to breathe deeply / take a deep breath.

So you will hear:

Respira profundo.
Respira hondo.

“Respirar profundamente” is also correct, but it sounds:

More formal or clinical, or
Slightly less idiomatic in casual speech.

So the sentence:

Cuando respiremos profundo…
is just the natural, spoken way of saying “When we breathe deeply…”.

Why is it “cuidemos la respiración” and not “cuidemos nuestra respiración”?

In Spanish, when talking about parts of your own body or things clearly belonging to you, people often use the definite article (el, la, los, las) instead of a possessive like mi, tu, nuestra if the owner is obvious from context.

So:

Cuidemos la respiración
literally: “Let’s take care of the breathing,”
but understood as “our breathing”.

Compare:

Me duele la cabeza. → My head hurts.
(Not usually “me duele mi cabeza”.)
Lávate las manos. → Wash your hands.
(Not usually “lávate tus manos”.)

Here, the subject is we, so la respiración is naturally interpreted as our breathing without needing nuestra. You can say nuestra respiración, but in this context la respiración is more natural and idiomatic.

Could you say “cuidemos de la respiración” instead of “cuidemos la respiración”?

You could, but:

Cuidar algo (transitive verb) is the normal structure when you mean to look after / take care of / pay attention to something.
- cuidar la respiración, cuidar la salud, cuidar el cuerpo.
Cuidar de algo tends to sound more formal or may suggest taking care of someone/something dependent:
- cuidar de un niño, cuidar de un anciano.

For breathing, the most natural and common choice is:

cuidar la respiración (without de).

Why isn’t there a reflexive pronoun, like “nos respiremos”?

The verb respirar is normally not reflexive in this sense. We just say:

Respiramos. = We breathe.
Respira profundo. = Breathe deeply.

You don’t usually say:

Nos respiramos (sounds wrong / unnatural in standard Spanish for “we breathe”).

Reflexive forms usually appear when the action comes back to the subject in a special way (washing yourself, hurting yourself, etc.):

nos lavamos = we wash ourselves.
nos relajamos = we relax (ourselves).

So:

Cuando respiremos profundo… = When we breathe deeply…
(not “nos respiremos profundo”).

Can I change the word order and say “Antes del examen, cuando respiremos profundo y cuidemos la respiración, estaremos más tranquilas”?

Yes, you can change the word order. These are all correct and natural:

Cuando respiremos profundo y cuidemos la respiración antes del examen, estaremos más tranquilas.
(Original: “before the exam” is inside the cuando-clause.)
Antes del examen, cuando respiremos profundo y cuidemos la respiración, estaremos más tranquilas.
(Two time references: “Before the exam” + the cuando-clause.)
Estaremos más tranquilas cuando respiremos profundo y cuidemos la respiración antes del examen.
(Main clause first, time clause after.)

About commas:

When the subordinate clause comes first, a comma before the main clause is normal:
- Cuando respiremos…, estaremos…
When the main clause comes first and the time clause follows, usually no comma:
- Estaremos más tranquilas cuando respiremos…

All three options sound fine; which you choose depends on what you want to emphasize (time, condition, result, etc.).

Could you use “si” instead of “cuando”? For example: “Si respiramos profundo y cuidamos la respiración antes del examen, estaremos más tranquilas.”

Yes, that’s also correct, but it changes the nuance slightly.

Cuando respiremos… estaremos más tranquilas.
→ Suggests that this is something that will (definitely) happen at some point: when we do it.
Si respiramos… estaremos más tranquilas.
→ Sounds more conditional: if we manage / decide to do it, then we’ll be calmer. It’s more hypothetical, like giving advice.

Both are grammatically good; the original with cuando feels more like a planned or expected future action.

Is there any difference between “estar más tranquilas” and “estar más relajadas” here?

Both are possible, but there’s a nuance:

tranquilas
- calmer, less nervous, at peace.
- focuses on emotional / mental calm.
relajadas
- relaxed, not tense (physically or mentally).
- slightly more about tension vs. relaxation.

In the context of breathing before an exam, both would be understood. Tranquilas is a bit more neutral and common for “less anxious / calmer” before something stressful. Relajadas emphasizes a more laid‑back, relaxed state.