Cuando mi madre hace empanada, yo corto la col muy fina y mi hermana prepara la granada para la ensalada.

Because this sentence describes a habitual action: something that generally happens whenever the mother makes empanada.

• Cuando mi madre hace empanada... = whenever my mother makes empanada
• This is a repeated, usual situation, so Spanish uses the present indicative.

Compare that with a future situation:

• Cuando mi madre haga empanada, yo cortaré la col...
• Here, haga is subjunctive because it refers to a future event that has not happened yet.

So a useful rule is:

• habit / general truth → cuando + indicative
• future event → cuando + subjunctive

Very often, yes: hace una empanada would sound more natural if you mean one empanada.

Why? Because empanada is normally a countable noun, so Spanish often uses:

• hacer una empanada = to make an empanada
• hacer empanadas = to make empanadas

The version without the article, hace empanada, can sound more generic or a bit like talking about the dish as a type of food rather than one individual item. A learner should know that in everyday neutral Spanish, una empanada is usually the safest choice if one is meant.

That’s true: Spanish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person.

So instead of:

• yo corto la col

Spanish very often just says:

• corto la col

The pronoun yo is included here for emphasis or contrast, especially because another person is mentioned right after:

• yo corto la col
• mi hermana prepara la granada

So yo is not required, but it can be used to make the contrast clearer.

Spanish uses definite articles much more often than English.

Here:

• la col
• la granada
• la ensalada

This is normal because Spanish often uses el/la/los/las with specific things being handled in a situation, even where English might say just cabbage, pomegranate, or salad depending on context.

In this sentence, the article helps present them as the ingredients involved in the action.

Because fina agrees with col, which is a feminine singular noun.

• la col → feminine singular
• so the adjective must match: fina

If the noun were masculine, you would use fino:

• el pan muy fino

This agreement is very important in Spanish:

• masculine singular → fino
• feminine singular → fina
• masculine plural → finos
• feminine plural → finas

Because in Spanish, with verbs like cortar, it is very common to use an adjective to describe the result of the object after cutting.

So:

• cortar la col muy fina

means the cabbage is cut so that it ends up very thin/fine.

This sounds natural in Spanish. Using finamente would sound much less natural here.

A similar pattern appears in other examples:

• picar la cebolla muy fina
• cortar el jamón muy fino

So this structure is common with food preparation.

They are all in the present indicative.

Specifically:

• hace = 3rd person singular of hacer
• corto = 1st person singular of cortar
• prepara = 3rd person singular of preparar

The present tense here expresses a routine or customary sequence of actions, not necessarily something happening right this second.

Because para expresses purpose or intended use.

• prepara la granada para la ensalada = she prepares the pomegranate for the salad

It tells us what the pomegranate is going to be used for.

By contrast, por would not fit this meaning. Por often relates to cause, movement through, exchange, duration, and other ideas, but not this simple idea of intended purpose.

Yes, granada can have different meanings depending on context:

• granada = pomegranate
• Granada = the city of Granada
• granada = grenade

But in this sentence, the context makes the meaning clear:

• prepara la granada para la ensalada

Because it is being prepared for a salad, it clearly refers to the fruit.

Context removes the ambiguity.

Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause introduced by cuando.

Spanish commonly places a comma after an introductory clause:

• Cuando mi madre hace empanada, yo corto la col...

This is similar to English punctuation in sentences like:

• When my mother makes empanada, I cut the cabbage...

Also notice there is no comma before y here, which is normal because the last part is simply joined with and:

• ...yo corto la col muy fina y mi hermana prepara...

Yes. In many contexts, a more natural version would be:

• Cuando mi madre hace una empanada, corto la col muy fina y mi hermana prepara la granada para la ensalada.

This sounds natural because Spanish does not need the subject pronoun unless there is emphasis or contrast.

So:

• yo corto = correct, slightly more explicit or contrastive
• corto = also correct, often more natural in ordinary speech

Yes, col is a normal word in Spain for cabbage. Depending on the variety of Spanish and the exact vegetable, you may also hear related words such as:

• repollo
• more specific types like col lombarda, coliflor, etc.

But col itself is perfectly normal and widely understood in Spain.

Because they are doing different jobs.

• mi madre, mi hermana identify whose mother and sister they are.
• la col, la granada, la ensalada identify the nouns as specific items in the situation.

Spanish uses possessives for personal relationships and ownership, but with ordinary nouns in context it very often prefers the definite article.

So the pattern here is completely normal:

• people related to the speaker → mi
• ingredients being talked about → la

Yes, in many contexts you might hear finita:

• corto la col muy finita

This sounds a bit more colloquial and expressive. The diminutive -ita often softens the word or gives it a more familiar tone, and in cooking it can suggest nicely small/thin.

Both are correct:

• muy fina = neutral
• muy finita = more colloquial, often very natural in speech