Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Cuando lleguemos a la granja, mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotos del campo. - When we arrive at the farm, my sister will already have taken many photos of the countryside.

In Spanish, when “cuando” introduces a future event that has not yet happened, the verb that follows is normally in the present subjunctive, not in the present or future indicative.

Cuando lleguemos a la granja…
Literally: When we arrive at the farm…
Meaning: referring to a future moment that is still uncertain/not realized.

Compare:

Cuando llegamos a la granja, mi hermana hace muchas fotos.
= When we (normally) arrive at the farm, my sister takes lots of photos.
Here it’s a habitual action, so we use the indicative: llegamos, hace.
Cuando lleguemos a la granja, mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotos.
= When we arrive at the farm, my sister will already have taken many photos.
This is talking about a specific future time, so we use present subjunctive (lleguemos).

Using “llegaremos” in this position (Cuando llegaremos…) is ungrammatical in standard Spanish.

So is “lleguemos” a kind of future tense?

Not exactly. Grammatically it’s the present subjunctive, but in this structure it refers to the future.

Spanish often uses the present tense (indicative or subjunctive) in clauses of time for future actions:

Cuando lleguemos, te llamaremos.
When we arrive, we’ll call you.

English uses a present (when we arrive), but Spanish goes one step further: because this arrival is not yet a fact, Spanish uses the subjunctive in the time clause. The future meaning comes from context and from the future tense in the main clause (ya habrá hecho).

Why is it “habrá hecho” and not “hará” or “ha hecho”?

“Habrá hecho” is the future perfect tense: future of “haber” + past participle.

ya habrá hecho ≈ will already have done / will already have taken

We use future perfect when one future action will be completed before another future reference point.

Timeline in the sentence:

Future point A: When we arrive at the farm (cuando lleguemos a la granja).
Future point B (earlier): My sister will already have taken many photos (mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotos).

So:

“habrá hecho” = finished before we arrive.
“hará” (will do / will take) would mean she will do it at or after that time, not completed before.
“ha hecho” (has done / has taken) is present perfect; it refers to the past relative to now, not to a point in the future.

That’s why “habrá hecho” is the natural choice here.

What is the role of “ya” in “ya habrá hecho”? Can I leave it out?

“ya” here means “already / by then” and emphasizes that the action is completed before a certain point.

mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotos
= my sister will already have taken many photos / by then, my sister will have taken…

You can leave it out:

mi hermana habrá hecho muchas fotos del campo

This is still correct and understandable. Without “ya”, the focus is slightly less on the “already/by then” nuance. With “ya”, you highlight the idea that by the time we arrive, the action is complete.

You can also move “ya”:

mi hermana habrá hecho ya muchas fotos del campo

That’s also correct; it just sounds a bit more “in the middle” of the sentence. In speech, placement may affect emphasis, but all three are fine.

Why is it “a la granja” after “lleguemos” instead of “en la granja”?

The verb “llegar” in Spanish normally uses the preposition “a” to introduce the destination:

llegar a la granja – to arrive at / to the farm
llegar a casa – to arrive home
llegar al aeropuerto – to arrive at the airport

So the pattern is: llegar + a + place.

“En la granja” would describe being at/in the farm, not the act of arriving there:

Estamos en la granja. – We are at the farm.
Vivimos en la granja. – We live on the farm.

In your sentence, we’re describing the moment of arrival, so “a la granja” is required.

Why is it “muchas fotos” and not “muchos fotos”?

In Spanish, adjectives like mucho/mucha/muchos/muchas must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

foto is feminine singular → la foto
fotos is feminine plural → las fotos

So we need the feminine plural form of mucho:

muchas fotos = many photos

Incorrect would be:

muchos fotos ❌ (masculine plural adjective with feminine plural noun)

Is “fotos” the same as “fotografías”? Which is more common?

Yes, “foto” is basically a short form of “fotografía”, and both are feminine.

una foto / unas fotos
una fotografía / unas fotografías

In everyday spoken Spanish, “foto(s)” is by far the most common. “Fotografía(s)” sounds a bit more formal, technical, or artistic (e.g., in photography as an art or profession).

Your sentence with “fotografías” would also be correct:

…mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotografías del campo.

But in casual conversation, “…muchas fotos del campo” is more natural.

What does “del campo” mean exactly, and why “del” instead of “de el”?

“Del” is simply the contraction of “de + el”:

de + el campo → del campo

You must use the contraction in standard Spanish; “de el campo” is not used.

Meaning-wise:

campo can mean countryside, rural area, or sometimes field(s), depending on context.
fotos del campo = photos of the countryside / photos of the fields.

It does not mean “photos in the countryside” (that would be “fotos en el campo”), but “photos of the countryside”, i.e., showing it as the subject of the photo.

Why is it “la granja” but “del campo” with “el” campo?

This is just noun gender:

granja is feminine → la granja
campo is masculine → el campo

So:

a la granja – to the farm
del campo – of the countryside / of the field(s) (from de + el campo)

Each noun has its own gender; you just have to learn them. There is no deep grammatical connection between using “la” with granja and “el” with campo; they are simply different words with different genders.

Could you also say “sacar fotos” or “tomar fotos” instead of “hacer fotos”?

Yes. The three verbs are commonly used with “fotos”:

hacer fotos – literally to make photos
sacar fotos – literally to take out photos, but means to take photos
tomar fotos – literally to take photos

Usage notes (general tendencies):

In Spain, hacer fotos and sacar fotos are very common and natural.
In much of Latin America, tomar fotos is very common.

All are understandable everywhere, but they may sound slightly more or less natural depending on the region. In your original sentence, any of these would be okay in terms of grammar:

mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotos del campo
mi hermana ya habrá sacado muchas fotos del campo
mi hermana ya habrá tomado muchas fotos del campo

Could the word order be “mi hermana habrá hecho ya muchas fotos del campo”? Is that different?

Yes, this is also correct:

mi hermana ya habrá hecho muchas fotos del campo
mi hermana habrá hecho ya muchas fotos del campo

Both are grammatically fine. Spanish has flexible adverb placement, especially with adverbs like ya. The difference is mostly one of rhythm and emphasis, and it’s subtle:

With “ya” earlier (ya habrá hecho), the “already/by then” idea feels slightly more prominent.
With “ya” after the verb phrase (habrá hecho ya), the emphasis may fall a bit more on how many photos rather than the timing, but in everyday speech most people would not feel a strong difference.

In written Spanish, “ya habrá hecho” is probably the most neutral-sounding choice.