This article takes a look at the meaning of the German word wenn and talks about the difference between wenn and als…
All lessons, tools and premium features (and there’s a LOT of them :).
Already a member?
This article belongs to the following series:
Audio SpeedAdjust the playback speed for audio examples -- still sounds fine down to about 70%.
Dark Mode Switch between light and dark mode -- your choice is remembered for future visits.
Still a work in progress, so let me know if you spot a glitch.
The full power of my site for 72 hours.
All lessons and all tools, no credit card needed because I'm not a shark.
Hi
Schlaf ist jetzt nur ein entfernter Traum
EINS
Es riecht als wenn es brennt.
It smells as if it was burning.
Isn’t this actually “as if it IS burning”
ZWEI
And from the earlier comments:
Meine Nachbarin hat jedes mal die Pakete angenommen. Ich war im Urlaub.
Doesn’t
ICH WAR IM URLAUB
imply just one vacation, in which case
1. Als ich im Urlaub war, hat meine Nachbarin . . .
would be correct despite the pesky (troublesome, irritating) “jedes mal”, anstatt
Wenn ich im Urlaub war, hat meine Nachbarin…
which would imply recurring vacations?
Schlaf ist besser als erwartet. Wir haben ein Anfaengerbaby, wie man sagt :)
1)
Ja, du hast recht. “was burning” would be “wuerde er brennen” in this context
2)
Ja, du hast noch mal recht!!
Gott sei Dank!
“Ja, du hast noch mal recht!!”
Ich glaube diesbezueglich, dass es die Regel von grosser Nummern ist.
Bye
Hi Emanuel, I was listening to a German version of Ra Ra Rasputin and encountered the following lines
“Wenn’s um die Liebe ging, da war er unerreicht Mit ‘ner Frau im Arm fiel ihm das Regieren leicht”
Is “da” like “so” where it could come before “wenn” in a subordinate clause?
No, it’s a pointer with the effect of “there/in that context” and it points back to “in terms of love”. It’s mainly there for the meter, and you can take it out without changing the message.
Not sure what you mean with the last sentence… “where it could come before “wenn”…
Hi dear Emanuel, what does it mean when the wenn itself makes an statement for example: wenn das ihre einzige Sorge ist!
Does it mean: it seems to be her sole worry?
Or as if it’s her sole worry?
Thankkkkkkkkkkk you!
With love
It’s the second :)
Hi Emanuel. A tiny question: is it possible to drop wenn an start the sentence with the verb? For example: schlägst du andere Themen an, merkst du sofort, wie wenig Niveau er hat! Thank you verrry muuch..
and* start
Yes, but that sounds quite high register.
In daily life, it’s only common for short irreal conditional phrasings like
Hi Emanuel – I may have had the same question as Patty – what is the difference between using Jedes mal wenn or immer wenn vs wenn as a stand-alone ?
Thx so much!
“jedes mal wenn” and “immer wenn” are pretty much identical in meaning, but “immer wenn” lends itself better to descriptions of routines or natural things while “jedes mal wenn” sounds a bit deliberate.
“wenn” can carry the general sense of “whenever” as well, but usually people go for one of the other two, just to be precise.
Thanks for the article! I see occasionally jedes mal wenn or immer wenn. Do they change the meaning or do they just provide emphasis?
Do you mean compared to each other or compared to “wenn” alone?
i think that it would be better if u could have avoided the conversation and instead of that you could have tried to explain all of that at one go
I really need to rework this one, I know. I enjoyed doing it at the time (6 years ago, or so) but it doesn’t fit the format any more.
It seems that “als” means something like “At the time when”. Correct?
Not sure this doesn’t make much of a difference. “at the time when” can also work for the future, right? “als” can’t so we’d still have to add this info
Thanks for your excellent blog. It’s really helping to fill in gaps of understanding. Just wanted to add that that “WENN” might be omitted from a sentence. Then in that case the sentence begins with the verb instead. Is this common in written work ?
You mean stuff like this:
– Hätte ich das gewusst, wäre ich gekommen.
– Had I known that I would have come.
The question of how common this type of phrasing is comes down to the verb. Hätte and wäre are commonly moved to the beginning, also the modals but this for instance:
– Gäbe es dort Kuchen, würde ich öfter hingehen.
sounds a bit high brow. That’s something you’d see in writing more often.
And this:
– Kostete das Kleid weniger, kaufte ich es.
– If the dress would cost less, I would buy it.
this sounds like from a theatre stage :)
I am still getting really confused between Wenn and Als when it is these *past* events i.e. happening once vs recurring events…. looks like everyone studies the same thing on Deutschkurs and Grandma visiting is common….
Anyway, the example that’s particularly annoying me is:
*Meine Nachbarin hat jedes mal die Pakete angenommen. Ich war im Urlaub.*
I can’t work out if it should be:
1. Als ich im Urlaub war, hat meine Nachbarin . . .
in the sense of, once when I was on holiday, my neighbour accepted my packages (for someone who likes internet shopping)
OR
2. Wenn ich im Urlaub war, hat meine Nachbarin…
in the sense of, every time I go on holiday, my neighbour accepts my packages…. and if this is the correct one, I don’t get why it would be “ich war” not “ich bin”….. perhaps I am getting confused in trying to translate “ich war” to “I was”
My boyfriend is German and he can’t work it out *face palm*
Könnten Sie mir bbiiiitttteeeeee helfen?!
Nice one :). And well done analyzing and seeing that there are two readings possible.
(one vacation, multiple packages – multiple vacations with packages)
The “correct” choice is number 2. That’s what a German would immediately think and they wouldn’t even realize that the other reading is possible, too. The reason for that is “jedes Mal”. Because that often comes in combination with “wenn”. Or at least an implied “when”. “jedes Mal” referring to “accepting the packaged during one vacation” is super odd and I think it’s the same in English.
– While I was on vacation, she accepted my packages every time.
At least to me, it feels like there’s something missing. Like “accpeted the packages everytime what happened??” . And the only sensible answer is “every time there was a package delivered”. And that is redundant. You’d just say “all my packages” .
So yeah… there’s no grammatical reason for why your second version is the correct answer. It’s more about Sprachgefühl.
Now, why use “Ich war” and not “ich bin”? Well, you’re talking about the past. You were on vacation multiple time and your neighbor always accepted your packages.
I believe you’d use past in English, too, in that constellation.
– Whenever I was on vacation, my neighbor would accept my packages.
Hope that helps :)
Aaaaaaaah yes. Alles klar!! Thank you that is really helpful :) …. these textbook sentences though… duh…
Die Sache mit “einmal” oder “häufig” und “wenn” ist sehr wichtig, nach meiner Meinung nach, also was Sie über “wenn” geschrieben habe, scheint mir so gesehen, ein bisschen bruchstückhaft. Doch Sie sind ein angeborener Lehrer und ich habe sehr gelernt. Selbst verständlich Sie sind nicht ein Mann wer seine Arbeit neu schreiben will. Vielleicht Sie können die Leser ermahnen die Responses zu lesen um “wenn” besser zu verstehen. Und ja, bitte machen Sie mein Deutsch besser. Herr Lehrer, wie alle guten Studenten, Ich liebe Korrekturen.
Ja, du hast vollkommen recht. Das ist wichtig und ich hätte es ergänzen sollen. Ich habe es jetzt erstmal unter den Post geschrieben und auf die Kommentare hingewiesen. Wenn ich ein bisschen Ruhe habe, werde ich den ganzen Artikel überarbeiten. Danke für den Hinweis !!
Hier ein paar Korrekturen:
– … wichtig, nach meiner Meinung nach… (das erste “nach” ist zu viel)
– … geschrieben habe… (bei “habe” fehlt ein “n”)
– … ein angeborener Lehrer… (nur “geborener” ohne “an”, Eigenschaften sind “angeboren” aber nicht man selber)
– … ich habe sehr gelernt … (lieber “viel gelernt”)
– Selbstverständlich (ein Wort) sind Sie (nicht “sie sind”) nicht ein Mann, der (nicht “wer”)
– Vielleicht können Sie (nicht “Sie können”) den Lesern sagen (“ermahnen” ist SEHR ernst und ist wie eine zweite Warnung)
– … wie alle guten Studenten, liebe Ich (nicht “ich liebe”)…
Hoffe, das hilft :). Danke für das tolle Feedback.
I offer the following translation of “Wenn schon, denn schon” – “In for a penny, in for a pound” (I’m a Brit).
I’m tempted to make a very obvious Euro/Soccer joke but it’s probably been done a bazillion times already :).
The translation is perfect! Danke
In the section near the end that explains how to use the expression “Wenn schon, denn schon,” it says “Or if you go from long hair to bold…”
That last word should be “bald,” not “bold”.
Oh, thanks. One of my favorite spelling mistakes mistakes.
Meine Mutter “Wenn ween nicht war war Kuh Scheisse Butter”
Great post as always but I have a question… why are you saying wenn shouldn’t be used in the past if sentences like ” Wenn sie Zeit hatte, ging sie immer ins Kino.” or “Sie kamen nach hause,wenn sie kein Geld mehr hatten.” are correct. ?
the way I learned is that we use als with single events in the past and wenn with things that happenned in the past on a regular basis. (in this case both meaning when, not if.)
Or would you say those 2 examples above are kinda conditional.. cause we dont know if they’ll happen again…
btw, viele dank! :)
You’re totally correct. For reoccurring events in the past, you’d use “wenn” too. The article is quite old already and back when I wrote it I simply overlooked that important bit. I really should add that. Thanks for the heads up :) !!
wenn: something uncertain in the future,certain (theoritically) in these present
Als: the same in past
Is that correct?
Hmm… not really. “Als” is never uncertain. “Als” is what happened. It’s the real world. You’d use “wenn” even in past for conditional things (because they are not the real world)
– Wenn ich das gewusst hätte…
– Als ich das gewusst hätte… makes no sense.
Hope that helps
Correction…as IF
Wenn is still a little slippery for me. How would you translate “it is not a question of if it happens, but when it happens” (wenn/wann?)
Also, what would a German immediately think when hearing “ich fahre in Urlaub, wenn das Wetter gut ist” . Is it I go on vacation ONLY if the weather is good (but not necessarily), or I go on vacations ON those days with good weather (necessarily so). The first seems more than IF and the second WHEN. I heard it translated as when, but noticed the two possibilities. Is it possible to tell? Thanks!
So about the first question, that would be
– Es ist keine Frage von wann sondern ob es passiert.
The “if” in this case is a whether-if, which is not ever gonna be “wenn”.
As for the vacation example…. I don’t really know. I’d say it’s more like the second translation. If I wanted to emphasize that I only do it then, I would put a “nur” in there. But depending on context it can be a general statement as well as one expressing a condition
– I go on vacation whenever the weather is good.
– I’ll go on vacation if the weather is good. If not, then I won’t.
hi!
how would you use ‘wenn’ with a seperable verbs.
e.g wenn ich um 7 uhr stehe auf.
would that be correct? thanx
It would be
– Wenn ich um 7 aufstehe,…
There’s a simple logic behind it. Here’s a normal sentence.
– Ich stehe um 7 auf.
We have verb at position 2 and the prefix at the end. What happens if you make that a side sentence by using “dass” or “wenn” or “ob” or etc is that the verb from position 2 moves all the way to the end. Here, it is “stehe”.
So we have
– Wenn ich ____ (verb used to be here) um 7 auf stehe.
The “gravity” between a verb and its prefix just makes it one again… so “aufstehe”.
The example above: “Ich rufe dich an wenn ich mein Handy finde.” is translated to “I will call you when/if I find my phone.”
In this case, how would you say, “I will call you if and when I find my phone.”?
Hmm… I guess that would be
– Ich rufe dich an wenn ich mein Handy finde, falls ich’s finde (after thought)
– Ich rufe dich, falls ich mein Handy finde, wenn/sobald ich’s finde, an.
I put the “an” final here to sort of frame two clauses (“wenn” and falls”). If they were just in a row at the end, the sentence would sound disjointed and odd.