En cuanto termine de cocinar, guardaré el salero, el pimentero y el delantal en su sitio.

Because after en cuanto when you are talking about a future action, Spanish normally uses the present subjunctive.

So:

• En cuanto termine de cocinar... = As soon as I finish cooking...
• The finishing has not happened yet, so Spanish uses termine.

Why not the other forms?

• termino = present indicative, used for habits or things presented as real/current facts.
• terminaré = future tense, but Spanish usually does not use the future tense after time expressions like cuando, en cuanto, tan pronto como, después de que when the action is still in the future.

So the pattern is:

• En cuanto + present subjunctive, future/main clause
• En cuanto termine de cocinar, guardaré...

Not always. It depends on whether the action is viewed as future/unknown or past/habitual/known.

Use subjunctive when the action is still pending or in the future:

• En cuanto llegue, te llamo.
• En cuanto termine de cocinar, guardaré...

Use indicative when you are talking about something habitual or something that already happened:

• En cuanto llegaba a casa, se quitaba los zapatos.
  = Whenever he got home, he took off his shoes.
• En cuanto terminó de cocinar, guardó todo.
  = As soon as he finished cooking, he put everything away.

So in your sentence, the speaker is talking about something they will do later, which is why termine is correct.

It means to finish cooking.

Here:

• terminar de + infinitive = to finish doing something
• cocinar = to cook

So:

• terminar de cocinar = to finish cooking

Be careful: acabar de + infinitive can sometimes mean to have just done something, but terminar de + infinitive here simply means to finish doing that action.

Examples:

• Terminé de estudiar. = I finished studying.
• Cuando termine de trabajar, iré a casa. = When I finish working, I’ll go home.

Because it is the main action the speaker says they will do after finishing cooking.

• guardaré = I will put away / I will store / I will keep
• It is the first person singular future of guardar

The structure is:

• En cuanto termine de cocinar = time clause
• guardaré el salero, el pimentero y el delantal en su sitio = main clause

Spanish often uses the future tense here, just like English does:

• As soon as I finish cooking, I will put away...

You could also hear:

• En cuanto termine de cocinar, voy a guardar...

That is also natural and means almost the same thing.

In this sentence, guardar means something like:

• to put away
• to put back
• to store
• to keep in its proper place

So it is not just the abstract idea of keeping something. In a kitchen context, it usually means putting an item back where it belongs.

Examples:

• Guardar la ropa = put away the clothes
• Guardar los platos = put away the dishes
• Guardar el salero = put the salt shaker back

In Spain, guardar is very natural for this idea.

They usually mean:

• el salero = the salt shaker or salt container
• el pimentero = the pepper shaker or pepper container

These are formed from:

• sal = salt → salero
• pimienta = pepper → pimentero

Depending on context, salero can sometimes mean other things in Spanish, but in a kitchen sentence like this, learners should understand it as salt shaker/container.

Spanish often repeats the article with each noun in a list, especially when naming specific objects clearly.

So:

• el salero
• el pimentero
• el delantal

This is completely normal and natural.

Could you say just one article before the whole list? Sometimes in some contexts, Spanish can group nouns, but with separate concrete objects like these, repeating the article is the most natural option.

It helps make the list sound clear and complete.

Delantal is masculine, so it takes el:

• el delantal = the apron

This may feel a little unexpected because English speakers sometimes try to guess gender from meaning or from the ending, but noun gender in Spanish has to be learned with the noun.

So just remember:

• el delantal
• un delantal

Examples:

• Me pongo el delantal para cocinar. = I put on the apron to cook.
• El delantal está sucio. = The apron is dirty.

It means in its place, back where it belongs, or in the proper place.

This is a very common expression in Spanish.

So:

• guardar ... en su sitio = to put ... back in its proper place

About su:

Even though there are several objects in the list, en su sitio often means each one in its proper place. Spanish commonly uses su this way without needing to spell everything out.

So the meaning is not usually:

• one single shared place for all of them

but rather:

• back where each item normally goes

Context makes that clear.

Here, su refers to the objects being put away, in the sense of their proper place.

Spanish often uses su where English might say:

• its place
• their place
• the proper place
• their usual spot

Because su can mean his/her/its/your/their, context is what tells you the intended meaning. In this sentence, the natural interpretation is:

• the place where the salt shaker, pepper shaker, and apron belong

So en su sitio is best understood idiomatically, not as a literal one-to-one pronoun puzzle.

Because Spanish often omits subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here:

• guardaré clearly means I will put away
• termine in this context also matches I finish

So yo is unnecessary.

The full version would be:

• En cuanto yo termine de cocinar, yo guardaré el salero, el pimentero y el delantal en su sitio.

But that sounds more emphatic than normal. Spanish usually prefers to leave yo out unless there is a reason to stress it or contrast it with someone else.

Yes. Both are correct, but the nuance is slightly different.

• cuando termine de cocinar = when I finish cooking
• en cuanto termine de cocinar = as soon as I finish cooking

En cuanto makes the idea of immediacy stronger. It suggests the speaker will do it right after finishing.

So in your sentence, en cuanto emphasizes:

• finish cooking → immediately put those things away

That is why it works especially well here.

Because the sentence starts with a time clause:

• En cuanto termine de cocinar, ...

In both Spanish and English, a comma is commonly used after an introductory subordinate clause when the main clause follows.

So the structure is:

• introductory clause: En cuanto termine de cocinar
• main clause: guardaré el salero, el pimentero y el delantal en su sitio

The comma helps separate those two parts clearly.