The important thing is to know when machen and tun cannot replace each other.
Little by little, you will start getting a feel for which one sounds more natural. In practice, though, German speakers will use one over the other in a given situation. We've seen how machen and tun can be interchangeable. What are you doing there at the cash register?Ĭaption 26, Monopoly - Geheime Tipps und Tricks Play Caption Piggeldy and Frederick happen to be talking about a sheep.Įs hat eben gesagt, was es den ganzen Tag tut.Ĭaption 33, Piggeldy und Frederick - Das Schaf Play CaptionĮs hat eben gesagt, was es den ganzen Tag macht.Īnd here, someone is suspected of cheating at German Monopoly: Machen basically means “to make,” and is very often used just like in English, but it also means “to do.” So which one do we use, and when? Usage changes from area to area and sometimes from generation to generation, but as a very general guide, if there is no particular object, machen and tun are usually interchangeable. Tun means “to do.” Simple enough, but another word means “to do” too. One of the challenges in learning a language is making the right choice among words with similar meanings. So as you see, distinguishing between wann, wenn, and als is not so difficult if you remember the basics outlined above! When in the fall a right-wing extremist terrorist was uncovered.Ĭaption 58, Angela Merkel - Neujahrsansprache Play Caption It's also shown here as Angela Merkel talks about a past atrocity:Īls im Herbst eine rechtsextremistische Terror- und Mörderbande aufgedeckt wurde.
Und haben Sie schon mal gedacht irgendwann,Ĭaption 30, Bambi-Verleihung - No-Gos auf dem Roten Teppich Play Caption Wann or wenn just wouldn’t be correct here. We would be happy, if all people would support our online petition on PETA de [Caption 13, PETA-Aktion - Gegen das Wal-Massaker Play CaptionĪnd the third word for “when” is als, which is always used to describe an event that has already happened or a single point in time. Wir würden uns freuen, wenn alle Menschen auf PETA de [unsere Onlinepetition unterstützen. Wenn doesn’t just mean “when” in German it is also used to express “if”: When planning a journey, you would use wenn as shown here:Ĭaption 21, Reiseplanung - Anruf bei einem Reisebüro Play Caption When he is standing behind the bar, he gives it everything,Ĭaption 34, Cocktails mixen - So „shaken“ die Besten Play Caption Wenn er hinter der Bar steht, gibt er alles, Wenn is the most common form of “when,” referring to time in the following examples: Then we want to ask spring when summer is coming.Ĭaption 17, Piggeldy und Frederick - Sommer Play Caption Or when you ask indirectly, as Piggeldy does to Frederick when talking about the arrival of summer:ĭann wollen wir mal den Frühling fragen, wann der Sommer kommt. When did you last see "Wiener Kurti" ?Ĭaption 67, Alexander Hauff - Showreel Play Caption Wann hast du Wiener Kurti zuletzt gesehen? When you ask a question about the past, you also need to use wann: Wann is a question word used to ask “at what time” directly as a question, as Diane demonstrates:Ĭaption 40, Diane erklärt - Fragewörter Play Caption In German, it’s very important to use the correct word, otherwise the whole meaning of the sentence can change. In English there is only one word for “when,” but in German there are three words: wann, wenn, and als.
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