Breakdown of Cuando me jubile, quiero comprar una casita en el campo.
la casa
the house
comprar
to buy
una
a, an (feminine)
en
in / on / at
querer
to want
cuando
when (statement)
el campo
countryside / field (piece of farmland)
jubilarse
to retire
Questions & Answers about Cuando me jubile, quiero comprar una casita en el campo.
Why is it me jubile instead of me jubilo?
Because of the word cuando (when). When you use cuando to talk about an event that hasn't happened yet (like retiring in the future), Spanish requires the subjunctive mood. If you said cuando me jubilo, it would mean 'whenever I retire' as a general repeated habit, which doesn't make sense here.
What is the infinitive of me jubile and how is it formed here?
The verb is jubilarse (to retire), which is a reflexive verb. To form the present subjunctive for the yo form of a regular -ar verb, you swap the normal -o ending for an -e. You also need to keep the reflexive pronoun me in front of the conjugated verb.
Why is quiero in the normal present tense but jubile is in the subjunctive?
The subjunctive is only triggered in the cuando part of the sentence because that is the future event that hasn't happened yet. The second part, quiero comprar (I want to buy), states a current fact: you have that desire right now. Because your desire is a present reality, it stays in the normal present tense (the indicative mood).
What does the -ita do in casita?
It is a diminutive suffix added to casa (house) to mean 'little house' or 'cottage'. In Latin America, adding -ito or -ita to a word is a very common way to describe something as smaller, cuter, or to express affection.
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