Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana. - When the boat arrives at the port, we will call the captain.

Because the action in the cuando-clause refers to the future and hasn’t happened yet, Spanish normally uses the present subjunctive there: cuando + subjunctive.

Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos…
= When the ship arrives at the port (in the future), we will call…

If you were talking about something that happens regularly, you would use the present indicative instead:

Cuando el barco llega al puerto, llamamos a la capitana.
= When the ship arrives at the port (whenever that happens, as a habit), we call the captain.

So:

Future, one-off / unknown if it will happen → cuando + subjunctive
Habitual / general truth → cuando + indicative

Could I say Cuando el barco llega al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana?

That sounds wrong to a native speaker, because you are mixing:

a future one-time action in the main clause (llamaremos)
with
a habitual / factual tense in the cuando-clause (llega).

For a specific future event, both parts should reflect that:

Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana. ✅

If you want a general rule, both should be habitual:

Cuando el barco llega al puerto, llamamos a la capitana. ✅

Why is llegue spelled with gu instead of gg or just ge?

In Spanish, before e and i:

g can sound soft (like the h in English hotel in many accents, or like a throaty sound), as in gente.
To keep the hard g sound (like in English go), you usually write gu: guerra, guiño.

The verb is llegar. The stem is lleg-.
In the present subjunctive yo/él form, you need it before -e: lleg-e.
To keep the hard g sound, Spanish inserts a u: llegue.

Same pattern:

pagar → pague
llegar → llegue
jugar → juegue (here there’s also a vowel change).

Could I say Cuando llegue el barco al puerto… instead of Cuando el barco llegue al puerto…?

Yes, both word orders are correct:

Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana.
Cuando llegue el barco al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana.

The first is the most neutral and common.
The second is also natural; the focus can feel slightly more on the moment of arrival, but the difference is subtle. Both are fine in normal speech.

Why is it al puerto and not a el puerto?

Al is just the contraction of a + el:

a + el = al
de + el = del

So a el puerto becomes al puerto. Writing a el puerto is grammatically incorrect in standard Spanish; you must contract it to al.

Exceptions: you do not contract a + él (the pronoun), e.g. a él = to him.

Why do we say llamaremos a la capitana with a before la capitana?

That a is the personal a, used when a direct object is a person (or a pet):

Llamaremos a la capitana.
We will call the captain. (direct object = a person)

Other examples:

Veo a María. – I see María.
Invitamos a nuestros amigos. – We invite our friends.

If the direct object is a thing, you do not use the personal a:

Veo el barco. – I see the ship. (no a)

So here:

la capitana is a person → llamar a la capitana.

Does la capitana specifically mean a female captain? Could I say el capitán instead?

Yes:

el capitán = male captain, or sometimes generic “the captain” if gender is unknown / not specified.
la capitana = explicitly female captain.

In modern Spanish (including Spain), it’s increasingly common and natural to use the feminine form of professional titles when talking about a woman:

el profesor / la profesora
el médico / la médica (usage varies by region)
el capitán / la capitana

So la capitana here strongly suggests the captain is a woman.

Does llamaremos mean “we will phone her” or “we will call out to her”?

It can mean either; llamar is general:

To phone someone
- Luego te llamo. – I’ll call you (on the phone) later.
To call out to someone / summon someone
- Llamamos al camarero. – We call the waiter over.

Context decides. In daily modern contexts, llamar a alguien often implies calling on the phone, but in a port / ship context, it could also mean “we will call for the captain” in person or over the ship’s intercom.

Why is it llamaremos and not vamos a llamar?

Both are grammatically correct:

Llamaremos a la capitana.
Vamos a llamar a la capitana.

Differences:

Simple future (llamaremos) can sound a bit more formal, “neutral future”, or sometimes more certain / planned.
Ir a + infinitive (vamos a llamar) often feels more colloquial and can emphasize near future or intention, similar to English “going to do”.

In Spain, in normal conversation you might hear Vamos a llamar a la capitana more often, but llamaremos is perfectly natural and common too, especially in more neutral or written language.

Could I say Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, la llamaremos instead of repeating a la capitana?

Yes, that’s very natural:

Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, la llamaremos.

Here:

la is a direct object pronoun, referring to la capitana (feminine singular).

Options:

Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana.
Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, la llamaremos.

Both are correct. In real conversation, speakers often use the pronoun if it’s already clear who they’re talking about.

What’s the difference between barco, bote, and buque?

All relate to boats/ships, but with nuances:

barco: general word for boat/ship, very common and flexible.
- un barco grande / pequeño
bote: usually a small boat, often an open boat, dinghy, rowboat, etc.
- un bote de remos – a rowing boat
buque: more formal; a large ship, often commercial or military.
- un buque de guerra – a warship
- un buque de carga – a cargo ship

In your sentence, barco is the natural general term.

Why is the sentence order Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos… and not the other way around?

Spanish allows both orders:

Cuando el barco llegue al puerto, llamaremos a la capitana.
Llamaremos a la capitana cuando el barco llegue al puerto.

Both are correct. Placing the cuando-clause first often emphasizes the condition or moment; putting it second can feel a bit more neutral in casual speech. In written Spanish, starting with cuando is very common and stylistically fine.

The comma is usually written when the cuando-clause comes first, and usually omitted when it comes second.