Breakdown of Cuando seas adulto, vas a tener muchas responsabilidades.
ser
to be
tener
to have
mucho
many / a lot
ir
to go
cuando
when (statement)
la responsabilidad
responsibility
el adulto
adult
Questions & Answers about Cuando seas adulto, vas a tener muchas responsabilidades.
Why does the sentence use seas instead of eres for "you are"?
Seas is the present subjunctive form of ser. In Spanish, when you use cuando (when) to talk about an event that hasn't happened yet, you must use the subjunctive. Even though in English we say "When you are an adult" (using the normal present tense), Spanish requires the subjunctive to show it is a future, anticipated event.
Why doesn't it say un adulto for "an adult"?
Why is the second part of the sentence (vas a tener) not in the subjunctive?
The rule for using the subjunctive for future events only applies to the phrase right after cuando. The main part of the sentence tells us what will happen, so it uses a normal future structure. Here, it uses ir a + infinitive (vas a tener), meaning "you are going to have".
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