toen, als or wanneer?
toen, als or wanneer?
English 'when' splits into three Dutch words. Which one you need depends on whether the event is a one-off in the past, a repeated or future situation, or an actual question — and getting it wrong is immediately noticeable.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
toen: a single completed event in the past
Toen ik in Utrecht woonde, had ik geen auto.
When I lived in Utrecht, I didn't have a car.
toen introduces one specific past situation or event, and it is used only with past tenses. It also works as an adverb meaning 'then': Toen ging ik naar huis. As a conjunction it sends the verb to the end (toen ik woonde), and because it fills first position, the main clause that follows begins with its verb.
als: repeated past events, and all present or future conditions
Als ik in Utrecht was, ging ik altijd naar die markt. / Als je komt, bel me.
Whenever I was in Utrecht, I always went to that market. / When you come, call me.
als covers habitual past events — where English often says 'whenever' — and every present or future 'when', which is also why it doubles as 'if'. The overlap with 'if' is complete: Dutch simply does not distinguish them, and context decides. So Als je komt can mean both 'when you come' and 'if you come'.
wanneer: questions, and formal 'when'
Wanneer kom je? / Ik weet niet wanneer hij komt.
When are you coming? / I don't know when he's coming.
wanneer is the question word, both direct and embedded. It can also replace als in a formal register — Wanneer u dit ontvangt, ... — which is why you will see it in official letters where speech would use als. Using wanneer for a past one-off event, however, is wrong: Toen ik klein was, never 'wanneer ik klein was'.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- when (past event) / then
- English
- when / if / whenever
- English
- when (question / formal)
- English
- every time that
- English
- as soon as
- English
- in the past
- English
- at that time
- English
- meanwhile
- English
- since then
- English
- from now on
Finished this lesson?