Breakdown of Cuando tenga el contrato, pienso mudarme.
tener
to have
el contrato
the contract
cuando
when (not in questions)
pensar
to plan to, to intend (+ infinitive)
mudarse
to move house
Questions & Answers about Cuando tenga el contrato, pienso mudarme.
Why is it tenga (subjunctive) instead of tengo (indicative)?
In Spanish, when you use cuando to talk about an event that has not happened yet, you must use the subjunctive. Since you do not have the contract right now and are waiting for it in the future, you use tenga. If you were talking about a regular habit, like saying "Whenever I get the contract", you would use the indicative tengo.
I thought pensar meant "to think". Why is it translated as "I plan" here?
While pensar usually means "to think", its meaning changes when you put it directly before an infinitive verb. The structure pensar plus an infinitive, like mudarme, means "to plan to" or "to intend to" do something.
Why do we use mudarme to say "to move" instead of mover?
The verb mover is used when you are physically moving an object or a body part. When you are talking about changing your residence or moving to a new house or city, you must use the reflexive verb mudarse.
Why is me attached to the end of mudarme, and could I put it somewhere else?
Because mudarse is a reflexive verb, it needs a pronoun that matches the person doing the action. Since "I" am planning to move, you use the pronoun me. You can attach it directly to the end of the infinitive to make mudarme, or you can place it before the conjugated verb to say me pienso mudar. Both are perfectly correct.
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