Mi amiga, en cambio, juega media hora y luego apaga el videojuego en cuanto suena el cronómetro.

My friend, on the other hand, plays for half an hour and then turns off the video game as soon as the stopwatch rings.

Breakdown of Mi amiga, en cambio, juega media hora y luego apaga el videojuego en cuanto suena el cronómetro.

• mi: my
• y: and
• la amiga: the friend
• luego: then
• jugar: to play
• medio: half
• la hora: the hour
• en cuanto: as soon as
• .: period
• apagar: to turn off
• ,: comma
• en cambio: on the other hand
• el videojuego: the video game
• el cronómetro: the stopwatch
• sonar: to ring

Questions & Answers about Mi amiga, en cambio, juega media hora y luego apaga el videojuego en cuanto suena el cronómetro.

What does en cambio mean here, and how is it different from pero or sin embargo?

En cambio means “on the other hand / by contrast”. It explicitly marks a contrast with what was said in the previous sentence.

• En cambio = you’re contrasting two different ways of doing things:

  • Yo juego durante horas. Mi amiga, en cambio, juega media hora…
    (I play for hours. My friend, on the other hand, plays half an hour…)

• Pero = simple “but”, just introducing opposition:

  • Yo juego durante horas, pero mi amiga juega media hora…

• Sin embargo = “however”, more formal, often used at the beginning of a sentence:

  • Yo juego durante horas. Sin embargo, mi amiga juega media hora…

In spoken, informal Spanish from Spain, en cambio is very natural for this kind of personal contrast.

Why are there commas around en cambio: Mi amiga, en cambio, juega…?

En cambio is acting as a discourse marker (a little comment-word that organizes the discourse, like “on the other hand” in English).

When used this way, it’s usually set off by commas:

• Mi amiga, en cambio, juega media hora…
• Mi amiga juega media hora, en cambio.

Without commas, it would feel less like a side comment and more tightly attached, which is less natural. So the commas show that en cambio is an inserted phrase, not core grammar of the sentence.

Why is it juega and not something like está jugando to say “plays / is playing”?

Spanish uses the present simple much more than English does, especially for:

• Habits / routines
• General truths

Here the sentence describes what your friend typically does, not what she is doing right now:

• Mi amiga… juega media hora y luego apaga el videojuego…
  = “My friend plays for half an hour and then turns off the videogame.”

In English you could say:

• “My friend plays for half an hour…”
• or “My friend will play for half an hour…”
• or even “My friend is playing for half an hour (these days)…”

In Spanish, you keep juega / apaga / suena (simple present) for this habitual meaning, not está jugando.

Why is it juega media hora and not juega por media hora, like “plays for half an hour”?

In Spanish, when you say how long an action lasts, you usually don’t need a preposition:

• Juega media hora. = “She plays for half an hour.”
• Estudié tres horas. = “I studied for three hours.”
• Durmió ocho horas. = “He slept for eight hours.”

Using por for this duration is generally unnecessary and often sounds less natural in this context. So juega media hora is the normal way to say it.

Why is it media hora and not medio hora?

The form of medio / media must agree in gender with the noun:

• hora is feminine → media hora (“half an hour”)
• día is masculine → medio día (“half a day”)
• manzana (apple, fem.) → media manzana
• vaso (glass, masc.) → medio vaso

So:

• ✅ media hora
• ❌ medio hora

Why do we say media hora instead of something like mitad de hora?

For time expressions, Spanish almost always uses medio / media + unit:

• media hora = half an hour
• media semana = half a week
• media noche (not mitad de noche for “midnight”; note: “midnight” is usually medianoche as one word)

Mitad (de) is used differently:

• la mitad de la hora = half of the hour (more literal, “one half of the hour”)
• la mitad del pastel = half of the cake

So to say “half an hour” in normal speech, you say media hora, not mitad de hora.

What does en cuanto mean, and how is it different from cuando?

En cuanto means “as soon as” and emphasizes that the second action happens immediately after the first:

• …apaga el videojuego en cuanto suena el cronómetro.
  = “…she turns off the videogame as soon as the timer goes off.”

Comparison:

• cuando suena el cronómetro = “when the timer goes off” (neutral)
• en cuanto suena el cronómetro = “as soon as the timer goes off” (immediacy)

So you use en cuanto when you want to stress that something happens right after another event, without delay.

Why is it en cuanto suena el cronómetro (present indicative) and not en cuanto suene el cronómetro (subjunctive)?

Both are possible, but they express different time frames:

1. Habitual / general fact in the present → indicative
   That’s the case in your sentence:

   • (Siempre) apaga el videojuego en cuanto suena el cronómetro.
     = (She always) turns off the game as soon as the timer goes off (this is her routine).

2. Future event (from a present viewpoint) → subjunctive

   • Mañana apagaré el videojuego en cuanto suene el cronómetro.
     = “Tomorrow I’ll turn off the game as soon as the timer goes off.”

So here, because we’re describing a habit, suena (present indicative) is the correct and natural form.

Could we say en cuanto el cronómetro suena instead of en cuanto suena el cronómetro?

Grammatically it’s possible, but much less natural. In Spanish, especially in sentences with conjunctions like cuando, en cuanto, si, the common order is:

• [en cuanto] + [verb] + [subject]
  • en cuanto suena el cronómetro
  • cuando llega mi amigo
  • si llueve mañana

Putting the subject directly after en cuanto (en cuanto el cronómetro suena) is unusual and can sound awkward or overly formal. Native speakers strongly prefer:

• en cuanto suena el cronómetro

Why is it apaga el videojuego and not something like el videojuego se apaga?

The verb apagar is transitive: someone turns something off.

• Mi amiga apaga el videojuego.
  = “My friend turns off the videogame.”

If you say:

• El videojuego se apaga.

that suggests the game turns itself off (automatically), or that we don’t mention who does it. That would change the meaning.

In your sentence, the focus is that she performs the action, so the transitive form apaga el videojuego is correct.

Could we say lo apaga instead of apaga el videojuego?

Yes, lo can replace el videojuego if the object is already clear from context:

• Mi amiga juega media hora con el videojuego y luego lo apaga en cuanto suena el cronómetro.

Here:

• el videojuego → masculine singular → pronoun lo

But in your original sentence, since el videojuego is being mentioned there for clarity, you normally don’t also use the pronoun. You choose either:

• apaga el videojuego
  or
• lo apaga (if “it” is obvious from context)

Using both together (lo apaga el videojuego) would be wrong in standard Spanish.

Why is it el videojuego and not something like su videojuego (“her videogame”)?

Spanish only uses possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su…) when the possession needs to be specified. Often it’s obvious from context, so you just use the article:

• apaga el videojuego = “she turns off the videogame”
  (understood as the one she is playing, probably hers)

If you said su videojuego, you’d be stressing “her own videogame” versus someone else’s, or introducing it as a new piece of information.

So el videojuego is perfectly natural when no contrast of ownership is intended.

What exactly does luego mean here, and could we use después instead?

In this sentence, luego means “then / afterwards” in a sequence of actions:

• …juega media hora y luego apaga el videojuego…
  = “…she plays for half an hour and then turns off the videogame…”

You can often swap it with después in this sense:

• …juega media hora y después apaga el videojuego…

Differences:

• Luego is a bit more colloquial and very common in Spain.
• Después is neutral and also very common.

Here, both luego and después would sound natural to a speaker from Spain.