GIE: So what about possibilities in the past, like “If you had invited me, I would have come to your party.” I mean, it is 100% certain that I was NOT invited, so what do I do here? Take the sentence “I ate a pizza”. GIE: Ok … now  is there absolute certainty at all? GIE: So the difference between wenn and als is that als is used for the past and wenn is used for future and fantasy land, to not use the term conditional again. If I hadn’t caught the train, that was leaving from Hauptbahnhof at 10:30, I would have been late for my appointment. If you are wondering about the difference between wenn and falls, I will talk about that more in the post about falls, but don’t worry too much there, this is not a critical distinction. | When he's nervous, he makes mistakes. We use cookies to improve our service for you. We don’t spam! Steve: Good question, so the statement is that you would have come to the party, had only you know, but you actually can’t know that for sure because it never happened. (When I go to Berlin, I want to see the Brandenburg Gate.) It might be a fun read, but if you need a quick fix for wenn vs wann, check my article on that and don’t waste your time here **. What is the meaning of “wann”? German is easy (GIE): Thanks for being here. The conjunctions als, wenn, wann. Steve: Yes. This time we will look at the meaning of: Wenn is one of the most confusing words for a lot of people who are learning German and even people who are almost perfectly fluent confuse wenn and als or wenn and wann,because they don’t know the difference. Steve: Thank you. Introduction. So here when is the only appropriate choice. wäre ich zu spät zu meinem Termin gekommen. Sorry ;:), German Main Sentences 2 – The Beginning and the End. Gerade _____ ich einschlafen wollte, klopfte es an die Tür. GIE: Glad you got that… so tell us a little bit about your current projects. If you neet to decide between “wenn” … Steve: Yap. Steve: Exactly…  maybe you can be 99,99% sure that you will be at home if you are right in front of your house, but still you do not know whether you will have a heart attack right the next second. and welcome to our German Word of the Day. Whenever something has happened this is 100% certain. If you want to talk to me about reviews, collabs, jobs or anything drop me an email: Join 19,782 subscribers and get my epic newsletter whenever I post a new article :). When I meet friends we watch horror movies. Immer, wenn er nach Hause kommt, ist es sehr spät. GIE: Cool. (laughs). Steve, many people have only a shadowy picture of what philosophers do…. _____ fängt das neue Semester an? So here is something rather unrealistic. (Whenever I come home, I make myself a tea.) Wenn es regnet, nehme ich einen Regenschirm mit. These problems are part of a broader issue. | If I had only known! A conditional clause is a subordinate clause that expresses a condition. Ich nehme einen Regenschirm mit, wenn es regnet. In contrast to “als” we can use “wenn” in all German times. GIE: Hmmm… I don’t know… depends I guess…. So I have invited one of the most renowned philosophers of our time: Steven B. Smith… welcome Steve…. So wenn is correct for future and fantasy land, als is correct for past and DO NOT MIX THEM UP. There are some little things I want to say before we finish. When I am older I go to uni. Wenn ich nur gewusst hätte! If it is 100% certain the German word is als and as 100% certainty is only possible in the past, als is THE ONLY proper translation for when in the past. Read our privacy policy for more info. Wenn ich gute Laune habe, singe ich ein Lied. Maybe you wouldn’t have come because you would have met the love of your life on the way to the party and you 2 went home for sexual intercourse. I’ll work that into the article but for now you should check out the comments for details. So is that a statement of time or a statement of possibility? If you live in Pleasant-ville you might prefer if, but in a large city it is not a question of if but when you will see the next pile. GIE: Well, I guess so… anyway. And for something rather realistic. Ich singe ein Lied, wenn ich gute Laune habe. GIE: So basically when I talk about past I use als and when it is not past it will be wenn, is that correct? So we have the poles possibility – time here. Now let’s look at this one. Unreal Past Condition. Real Condition. The first one is the best as it brings together what mustn’t be mixed up :) … als wenn. So guys… I hope that things are a little more clear now. If you’re talking about a repeated action in the past, like a habit or something, then you’d also use wenn and not als. Now how does that relate to German and to wenn. The condition is expressed in the subordinate clause, while the consequence is expressed in the main clause: Wenn ich krank bin, … – condition in the subordinate clause, … (dann) bleibe ich im Bett. But I don’t want it to be pages and pages and pages so we will look at every word in detail first and then put that together…, So for today our focus is wenn and because the issue is so important to a lot of people, I have decided to get some help for this. Note: The verb in the main (declarative) clause is always in second position. So imagine you clean your flat, and you go all out on it. I hope this helped and as usual if you have any questions or suggestions just drop me a comment. Steve: Yes… from a philosophers point of view it is a really fantastic word… or should I say wenn-tastic… (laughs), GIE: Oh no, don’t bother about wordplays and stuff. Sie ging ins Geschäft, denn sie brauchte Mehl. There is no question that you did eat the pizza. Steve: Hey Emanuel, thank you for having me. Examples for “wenn”: Immer wenn ich nach Hause komme, mache ich mir einen Tee. Something can be very likely or very unlikely to happen but you do never know for sure. When I want to I go to school. The 2 choices are certainty – possibility. Conditional Clauses in German Grammar. Then there is wenn auch. (She went to the store because she needed flour.) _____ Maja Geburtstag hatte, wurde sie acht Jahre alt. GIE: Well Steve, I have to say, that was really awesome. Let’s look at them back to back. Are you going to join us for the rest of the show? So whenever you talk in future or conditional the proper German word is wenn. Steve: German has different poles. This is somewhere in the vicinity of although. Wenn ich Freunde treffe, sehen wir Horrorfilme. First of, wenn – also als – is one of these words that don’t get along with the verb very well, so sentences with wenn are always side sentences with all the verbs hangin’ out at the end. |Whenever he comes home, it's very late. – consequence in the main clause. –  consequence in the main clause. And then there are some fixed expressions with wenn that don’t really fit the explanations above.