Zach
I am still confusing these words; denn vs. dann, wenn vs. wann, please explain these to me! I asked my German teacher once or twice about these words(denn/wenn), and he refers to them as "flavoring words" (also among these would be words like "doch", etc.). I then asked on italki but I was told because I am just a starter I should not worry about these words yet. However, I was reading about conjunctions and it looks like the ones with "e" are conjunctions, and they play an important role in grammar, so I decided to ask about them again because I am extremely unsure of their meaning. So here I am, please help; thanks!
Jan 11, 2017 9:43 PM
Answers · 6
DANN: – then (afterwards): Ich fahre zuerst nach Hamburg und dann nach Hannover. – then (in that case): Haben wir keine Zahnpasta mehr? Dann müssen wir neue kaufen. DENN: – because: Er lernt Spanisch, denn er will in Madrid arbeiten. – (rarely) than: Er ist heute fitter denn je. These two also have the 'flavoring' uses you mention, but as others have said, you don't really need to know these right now already. If you're interested, though, you can have a look at the examples http://de.pons.com gives. More information: – https://yourdailygerman.com/2012/09/13/denn-meaning/https://www.rocketlanguages.com/forum/german-grammar/denndann/http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/4768/denn-vs-dannhttps://www.italki.com/question/349478 WANN: – when (at what time): Wann fährst du nach Berlin? – whenever (at any time): Du kannst mich anrufen, wann (immer) du willst. WENN: – if: Wenn ich morgen im Lotto gewinne, kaufe ich mir ein Auto. – when, whenever (every time): Wenn ich krank bin, gehe ich nicht zur Arbeit. See also: – http://www.thegermanprofessor.com/als-wenn-wann/http://german.about.com/od/vocabulary/fl/When-to-Use-Wann-vs-Wenn.htmhttps://yourdailygerman.com/2013/01/12/difference-wann-wenn/http://www.deutschseite.de/vokabeln/als_wenn_wann/als_wenn_wann.html
January 12, 2017
Oh, yeah. I knew just as far as you do, but I looked "wenn" up in the dictionary, it appears it also can mean "when".
January 12, 2017
I'm not a native speaker, in fact I'm a beginner learning German myself, so I'm not going to post this as an "Answer," I'll just keep it a comment. Also, I only know about wenn vs wann. Wenn vs. Wann: As far as I have learned, wann means "when" as in "what time." Wenn means "if". Examples: Wenn du willst. (If you want.) Wann kommt der Zug? (When is the train coming?) This is the best I understand, but I'd wait for a native speaker to chime in to get the best explanation. I don't know about denn vs dann, but I'm curious to see the answer.
January 11, 2017
I also read that denn can be translated to "because" or "for"; Ex: "Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden." "Stay with us, for evening is nigh."
January 11, 2017
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!