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Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano.

Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano.
When my boyfriend arrives, I kiss his hand.
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Questions & Answers about Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano.

Why is it llega and not llegue after cuando?

In Spanish, cuando + indicative is used for habitual, repeated, or generally true actions:

  • Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano.
    = Whenever my boyfriend arrives, I kiss his hand. (habit)

You use cuando + subjunctive for a specific future event that hasn’t happened yet:

  • Cuando mi novio llegue, le besaré la mano.
    = When my boyfriend arrives (later), I will kiss his hand.

So llega (indicative) is correct here because the sentence describes a regular habit, not a one‑off future event.

Can this sentence talk about a future event, or only about a habit?

As written, Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano is normally understood as a habitual action: “Whenever he arrives, I kiss his hand.”

To talk about a single future situation, you would usually change both verbs:

  • Cuando mi novio llegue, le besaré la mano.
    = When my boyfriend arrives, I’ll kiss his hand.

So:

  • Present indicative in both parts → habit.
  • Subjunctive after cuando
    • future (or another present with future meaning) → specific future time.
Can I change the word order to Cuando llega mi novio, beso su mano?

Yes. Both are correct:

  • Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano.
  • Cuando llega mi novio, beso su mano.

The difference is very slight. Spanish allows the subject (mi novio) either before or after the verb (llega). The second version can sound a bit more neutral or more focused on the verb (the moment he arrives), but in everyday speech they’re practically interchangeable.

Can I put the cuando clause at the end? Do I still need a comma?

Yes, you can change the order:

  • Beso su mano cuando mi novio llega.

Regarding the comma:

  • If the cuando clause comes first, a comma is standard:
    Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano.
  • If it comes second, the comma is usually not written:
    Beso su mano cuando mi novio llega.

So you normally drop the comma when cuando goes at the end.

Where is yo? Do I need to say yo beso su mano?

You don’t need yo. Spanish verb endings usually make the subject clear:

  • beso = I kiss
  • llega = he/she arrives

So Cuando mi novio llega, beso su mano already means “I kiss his hand.”

You add yo only for emphasis or contrast:

  • Cuando mi novio llega, yo beso su mano, no mi madre.
    = When my boyfriend arrives, I kiss his hand, not my mother.
Is beso su mano the most natural way to say this, or should it be le beso la mano?

Spanish usually prefers definite articles with body parts, plus an indirect object pronoun for the person:

  • More idiomatic: Cuando mi novio llega, le beso la mano.
    (literally: When my boyfriend arrives, I kiss him the hand.)

Here:

  • le = to him (your boyfriend)
  • la mano = the hand (direct object)

Your original beso su mano is grammatically correct and understandable, but le beso la mano sounds more natural to many native speakers in Spain.

Why don’t we say beso a su mano with the personal a?

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

  • Beso a mi novio. = I kiss my boyfriend.

In beso su mano, the direct object is la mano, which is a thing, not a person, so there is no personal a.

If the boyfriend were the direct object, you’d use it:

  • Beso a mi novio. (I kiss my boyfriend)
  • Beso la mano de mi novio. (I kiss my boyfriend’s hand – here mano is the direct object, so no a)
What exactly does su mean here? Could it also mean “her” or “your”?

Yes. su is ambiguous in Spanish; it can mean:

  • his
  • her
  • their
  • your (formal singular or plural in Spain: usted / ustedes)

So beso su mano could, in theory, mean “I kiss his hand / her hand / your hand / their hand.”

Context usually clarifies it (here, mi novio suggests “his”).
If you need to be very clear, you can say:

  • beso la mano de mi novio = I kiss my boyfriend’s hand.
  • le beso la mano a él = I kiss his hand.
What does novio mean in Spain exactly? Is it only “boyfriend”?

In Spain:

  • novio / novia most commonly means boyfriend / girlfriend (a romantic partner).
  • It can also mean fiancé / fiancée if the couple is engaged.

Context decides which nuance is intended.

If you want a gender‑neutral, modern term, people often say mi pareja (my partner).

How does the gender work with novio and novia?

The noun changes form:

  • mi novio = my boyfriend (male)
  • mi novia = my girlfriend (female)

Adjectives have to agree:

  • mi novio español / mi novia española
  • mi novio simpático / mi novia simpática

In your sentence, mi novio is masculine, so verbs referring to him are third‑person singular: llega, está, etc.

Why is it la mano (feminine) even though mano ends in -o?

mano is an exception to the usual rule.

  • It is feminine: la mano, una mano, esta mano.
  • Adjectives agree in feminine: la mano derecha, la mano izquierda.

Spanish has a small group of irregular nouns like this (another example: la foto from la fotografía). You just have to memorize la mano as feminine.

Could I use viene instead of llega, as in Cuando mi novio viene, beso su mano?

You can, and people do say that. The nuance:

  • llegar = to arrive (focus on reaching the destination)
  • venir = to come (movement toward the speaker or a reference point)

In many everyday contexts, Cuando mi novio llega and Cuando mi novio viene feel very similar.
If you want to stress the moment he arrives at the place, llega is slightly more precise.

How do you pronounce the key words in Spain: cuando, novio, llega, beso, mano?

Approximate peninsular Spanish pronunciation:

  • cuando → /ˈkwando/ (the d is soft, not strongly pronounced)
  • novio → /ˈnoβjo/ (v sounds like a soft b)
  • llega → /ˈʝeɣa/ (in most of Spain, ll is like a soft “y”)
  • beso → /ˈbeso/ (both b and v are /b/ or /β/, here /b/ at the start)
  • mano → /ˈmano/

Stress is on the first syllable in all of them: CUAN‑do, NO‑vio, LLE‑ga, BE‑so, MA‑no.