Tener Cuidado + Subjunctive?

[wafflestomp]

Hey guys,

I was doing Rosetta Stone earlier, and I got to a page where they were saying "Ten cuidado" and all of the different forms, but then for some reason they were using the subjunctive forms with it. "Ten cuidado cuando conduzcas en la nieve" is an example. The slide is attached. Is this just one of those words that require the subjunctive?

[JPablo]

Hello, I think is just with "cuando".

Ten cuidado cuando traduzcas esto.
Ten cuidado cuando comas ciruelas demasiado maduras.

But,
Ten cuidado de traducir esto bien.
Ten cuidado de comer ciruelas demasiado maduras.

The "cuando" (when) gives the "potential" aspect to the expression, ie., "in case you do blah".

Make sense?

[wafflestomp]

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation J

[JPablo]

You're welcome, W!

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by wafflestomp

Hey guys,

I was doing Rosetta Stone earlier, and I got to a page where they were saying "Ten cuidado" and all of the different forms, but then for some reason they were using the subjunctive forms with it. "Ten cuidado cuando conduzcas en la nieve" is an example. The slide is attached. Is this just one of those words that require the subjunctive?

Ten mucho cuidado cuando estaciones el automóvil.

Ten mucho cuidado cuando estacionas el automóvil. Las últimas tres veces le hiciste unos raspones horribles.

Two verbs: "be careful", "doing something". The main action is "being careful" and "doing something" is just the action referred. It's not "perform that action" but "be careful while performing that action" ("performing an action" is like a "thing" so subjunctive).

You may use indicative to point that the warning ("be careful") is given because something wrong did occur. It's like saying "it happened before".