Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Prefiero tomar té caliente cuando hace frío. - I prefer to drink hot tea when it's cold.

Correct pattern: preferir + infinitive
- Prefiero tomar té. = I prefer to drink tea.
- Ella prefiere leer. = She prefers to read.
Incorrect: prefiero bebo (you are combining two conjugated verbs)

You could say:

Prefiero beber té caliente. (also correct)

Here the structure is still preferir + infinitive ( beber ), just like tomar. The choice is between tomar and beber, not between infinitive and conjugated form.

What is the difference between tomar and beber here?

Both are understood as to drink, but there are some nuances, especially in Spain:

tomar
- Very common and slightly more informal.
- Used for drinks, food, medicine, transport, sun, etc.:
  - Tomar té / café / vino – to drink tea / coffee / wine
  - Tomar una pastilla – to take a pill
  - Tomar el autobús – to take the bus
  - Tomar el sol – to sunbathe
beber
- More specific: literally “to drink (a liquid)”.
- Very normal with liquids, especially water, alcohol:
  - Beber agua / cerveza / vino

In Prefiero tomar té caliente, using tomar sounds very natural and typical of Spain. Prefiero beber té caliente is also correct, just a bit more neutral/literal.

Why is it té caliente and not caliente té?

In Spanish, adjectives normally come after the noun:

noun + adjective
- té caliente – hot tea
- café frío – cold coffee
- agua fría – cold water

Placing the adjective before the noun is possible but usually adds emphasis, style, or a different nuance. For temperature of drinks, you essentially always say té caliente, not caliente té.

So caliente té sounds wrong or poetic at best; the natural order is té caliente.

Could I say Prefiero el té caliente instead of Prefiero tomar té caliente?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:

Prefiero tomar té caliente.
- Focus on the action: I prefer to drink hot tea (rather than something else).
Prefiero el té caliente.
- Focus on the thing: I prefer hot tea (rather than, for example, cold tea or coffee).
- This is often in contrast to another drink:
  - ¿Prefieres café o té? – Prefiero el té caliente.

Also, notice the article:

Prefiero té caliente. – I prefer hot tea (in general, no article, more like a non-count noun).
Prefiero el té caliente. – I prefer the hot tea (more specific or contrasted).

In your sentence, Prefiero tomar té caliente is a general habit: “When it’s cold, the thing I like doing is drinking hot tea.”

Why is there an accent on té?

The accent mark in té distinguishes it from another word:

té (with accent) = tea (the drink)
te (without accent) = object pronoun “you” (informal, singular), or part of reflexive verbs (te levantas, etc.)

So:

Prefiero tomar té. – I prefer to drink tea.
Te llamo luego. – I’ll call you later.

The accent prevents confusion in writing.

Why does frío also have an accent?

The accent in frío breaks what would otherwise be a diphthong and tells you to pronounce it in two syllables:

frío = frí-o (two syllables)
Without the accent, it would be read more like frio (fri-o as one syllable for fri), which is not standard.

In practice:

frío – cold
tío – uncle
río – river / I laugh

These accents follow Spanish rules about stress and vowel combinations; they’re not optional decorations.

Why is it cuando hace frío and not cuando es frío or cuando está frío?

For weather, Spanish often uses hacer:

Hace frío. – It’s cold (the weather is cold).
Hace calor. – It’s hot.
Hace sol. – It’s sunny.
Hace viento. – It’s windy.

So cuando hace frío literally means “when it does cold,” but idiomatically “when it’s cold (weather).”

es frío / está frío can also exist, but:

es frío – is (by nature) cold
- El clima de esa ciudad es frío. – The climate of that city is cold.
está frío – is (currently) cold, usually about objects or food
- El té está frío. – The tea is cold (temperature of the tea).

For general weather right now, Spanish prefers hacer frío, not ser or estar.

Why is hace in the present tense? Does it mean now or in general?

In cuando hace frío, the present tense is used for:

General, habitual situations, not only right now.

The whole sentence:

Prefiero tomar té caliente cuando hace frío.
= I prefer to drink hot tea when it’s cold (in general / whenever it’s cold).

Spanish often uses the present for general truths and habits:

Cuando estoy cansado, duermo. – When I’m tired, I sleep.
Cuando llueve, me quedo en casa. – When it rains, I stay at home.

If you were talking about a specific future time, you could get cuando haga frío (subjunctive), but your sentence is about a general habit, so hace (indicative present) is correct.

Why is yo missing before prefiero? Can I say Yo prefiero…?

Spanish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the subject:

prefiero → clearly means I prefer (yo).
prefieres → you prefer (tú).
prefiere → he / she / you (formal) prefer(s) (él / ella / usted).

So:

Prefiero tomar té caliente… is perfectly normal and natural.
Yo prefiero tomar té caliente… is also correct, but the yo is:
- Used for emphasis or contrast:
  - Yo prefiero té, él prefiere café. – I prefer tea, he prefers coffee.

In neutral statements about yourself, you usually omit yo in Spanish.

Could I say Cuando hace frío, prefiero tomar té caliente instead?

Yes, that word order is completely natural:

Prefiero tomar té caliente cuando hace frío.
Cuando hace frío, prefiero tomar té caliente.

Both mean the same thing. Moving cuando hace frío to the front just changes the emphasis slightly (starting with the condition), but it’s a very common structure.

Just remember to put a comma after the initial clause:

Cuando hace frío, prefiero…

Why do we use the present indicative hace and not the subjunctive haga after cuando?

With cuando, Spanish uses:

Indicative for general/habitual actions or for things considered real and certain.
Subjunctive for future or uncertain actions.

Compare:

Prefiero tomar té caliente cuando hace frío.
- Habitual / general: whenever it’s cold, I prefer hot tea.
- So: hace (present indicative).
Lo tomaré cuando haga frío.
- Talking about a specific future moment when it gets cold.
- So: haga (present subjunctive).

Your sentence talks about a general preference, so cuando hace frío with the indicative is correct.

Does caliente always just mean “hot”? Are there any traps with this word?

For temperature of things, yes:

té caliente – hot tea
agua caliente – hot water
comida caliente – hot food

But there are two important points:

For spicy food, Spanish usually uses picante, not caliente:
- La comida mexicana es muy picante. – Mexican food is very spicy.
With people, estar caliente or ser caliente can have a sexual meaning (aroused / horny), especially estoy caliente.
- To say I’m hot (I feel too warm), it’s safer to say tengo calor, not estoy caliente.

So té caliente is perfectly safe; just be careful with estoy caliente for yourself.

How is prefiero pronounced compared to preferir?

Both come from the same verb preferir (to prefer). In Spain:

preferir → pre-fe-rir (stress on the last syllable, rir)
prefiero → pre-fie-ro (stress on fie)

Two key points:

The e in the stem changes to ie in the yo form (and tú, él/ella/usted, ellos/ellas/ustedes):
- preferir → prefiero, prefieres, prefiere, prefieren
- But preferimos, preferís (no change).
fie is one syllable: fyeh, not fi-e separately.

So prefiero sounds like preh-FYEH-ro (with a rolled or tapped r in -ro).