Cuando tengo frío, me gusta beber un caldo caliente antes de cenar.

In Spanish, feeling cold is expressed with tener + a noun:

• tener frío = to be cold
• literally: to have cold

So Cuando tengo frío means When I’m cold.

Using ser (soy frío) would usually describe a person or thing as cold in character or temperature in a more permanent/defining way, not the temporary feeling of being cold. For example, Es una persona fría means He/She is a cold person.

Cuando means when.

Here it introduces a time clause:

• Cuando tengo frío = When I’m cold

In this sentence, cuando is followed by the present indicative because it refers to something habitual or generally true: whenever I feel cold, I like to drink hot broth before dinner.

If the sentence were talking about a future situation, Spanish often uses the present subjunctive after cuando, but that is not what is happening here.

The verb gustar works differently from English to like.

Spanish structures it more like:

• me gusta beber... = drinking... is pleasing to me
• literally: to me, it is pleasing to drink...

So:

• me = to me
• gusta = is pleasing

You need me because it shows who likes it.

Compare:

• Me gusta beber caldo. = I like drinking broth.
• Te gusta beber caldo. = You like drinking broth.
• Le gusta beber caldo. = He/She likes drinking broth.

Because the thing that follows gustar here is the infinitive beber.

In Spanish, an infinitive verb counts as a singular idea, so you use gusta:

• Me gusta beber = I like to drink

Compare:

• Me gusta beber un caldo caliente. = I like to drink a hot broth.
• Me gustan los caldos calientes. = I like hot broths.

So:

• gusta → with a singular noun or an infinitive
• gustan → with a plural noun

Yes, tomar is also possible in many contexts.

• beber = to drink
• tomar = to take / to have / to drink

In everyday Spanish, especially in Spain, tomar is very common for food and drink:

• tomar un caldo
• tomar una sopa
• tomar un café

Beber is perfectly correct, but it can sound a little more specifically focused on the act of drinking. Tomar can sound slightly more natural in many everyday situations.

So all of these are possible:

• Me gusta beber un caldo caliente
• Me gusta tomar un caldo caliente

Both are correct.

Because caldo is a masculine noun:

• el caldo
• un caldo caliente

That means both the article and the adjective must agree with it:

• un (masculine singular)
• caliente (same form for masculine and feminine singular)

Even though caliente does not change form here, the article does:

• un caldo caliente
• una sopa caliente

Not exactly.

• caldo usually means broth or stock
• sopa usually means soup

So un caldo caliente is more specifically a hot broth. It suggests a lighter liquid, not necessarily a full soup with lots of ingredients.

A learner might be tempted to translate both as soup, but caldo is more specific.

In Spanish, adjectives often come after the noun:

• un caldo caliente = a hot broth

This is the normal order for many descriptive adjectives such as:

• una casa grande
• un café frío
• una sopa deliciosa

Putting the adjective before the noun is sometimes possible, but it usually changes the tone or emphasis. Here, caldo caliente is simply the normal, natural order.

Because after antes de, Spanish often uses an infinitive when the meaning is before doing something:

• antes de cenar = before having dinner / before eating dinner

This is a very common structure:

• antes de salir = before leaving
• antes de dormir = before sleeping
• antes de estudiar = before studying

You can also say antes de la cena, but that means more literally before dinner as a noun phrase. In this sentence, antes de cenar sounds very natural because it focuses on the action.

Spanish usually uses the specific verb cenar for to have dinner / to eat dinner.

So:

• desayunar = to have breakfast
• comer = to eat / to have lunch in many contexts
• cenar = to have dinner

That is why antes de cenar is more natural than antes de comer la cena.

Yes. In this kind of sentence, cuando can often be understood as when or whenever, depending on context.

Because the sentence describes a repeated habit, English might naturally say:

• When I’m cold, I like to drink a hot broth before dinner.
• Whenever I’m cold, I like to drink a hot broth before dinner.

Both match the Spanish well.

No, not in normal Spanish.

With gustar, you normally need the indirect object pronoun:

• me gusta = I like
• te gusta = you like
• le gusta = he/she likes

So gusta beber un caldo caliente by itself would sound incomplete, because we do not know to whom it is pleasing.

Yes, a couple of things feel very natural in Spain:

• caldo is a very common everyday word in Spain
• cenar is the normal verb for to have dinner
• tomar or beber with food and drink is also very common in Spain

Nothing in the sentence is uniquely Spain-only, but the phrasing sounds very natural for Peninsular Spanish.

You could say:

• Cuando tengo frío, me gusta beber caldo caliente antes de cenar.

Dropping un makes it more general:

• un caldo caliente = a hot broth / one serving of hot broth
• caldo caliente = hot broth in general

Both are correct. The original sentence with un suggests a single portion, which sounds very natural.

It breaks down like this:

• Cuando tengo frío = when I’m cold
• me gusta = I like
• beber un caldo caliente = to drink a hot broth
• antes de cenar = before dinner / before having dinner

So the overall pattern is:

[Time clause] + [gustar phrase] + [infinitive phrase] + [time expression]

That makes the sentence a very useful model for building similar ones, such as:

• Cuando estoy cansado, me gusta descansar antes de estudiar.
• Cuando llueve, me gusta tomar té caliente antes de dormir.