Learn Spanish (Spain): Vamos a necesitar maquillaje e iluminación tan pronto como llegue la actriz. - We are going to need makeup and lighting as soon as the actress arrives.

Vamos a necesitar maquillaje e iluminación tan pronto como llegue la actriz.

We are going to need makeup and lighting as soon as the actress arrives.

Breakdown of Vamos a necesitar maquillaje e iluminación tan pronto como llegue la actriz.

Questions & Answers about Vamos a necesitar maquillaje e iluminación tan pronto como llegue la actriz.

Why is llegue in the subjunctive here instead of the indicative llega?

The phrase tan pronto como (as soon as) triggers the subjunctive when we are talking about an event that hasn't happened yet. The first part of the sentence (Vamos a necesitar) sets up a future context, meaning the actress's arrival is still in the future. Therefore, we must use the present subjunctive llegue.

Why does llegue have a u in it?

The verb llegar ends in -gar. To keep the hard "g" sound (like in "go") when forming the present subjunctive, the spelling changes to -gue. If we just wrote llege, the "g" would be pronounced with a raspy sound from the back of the throat, changing the pronunciation of the root word.

Why does the sentence use e instead of y for "and"?

In Spanish, the word for "and" changes from y to e when the following word starts with an "i" or "hi" sound. This prevents the two identical sounds from blending together. Because iluminación starts with an "i" sound, we must use maquillaje e iluminación.

Could I say tan pronto como la actriz llegue instead of tan pronto como llegue la actriz?

Yes, both are grammatically correct. However, it is very common and natural in Spanish to put the subject (la actriz) after the verb (llegue) in dependent clauses, especially with verbs that express arrival or appearance.