Key learning points

1. German [ch] can be soft or hard. The sound [ei] is pronounced like ‘frei’.
2. The suffixes -chen and -lein are added to make diminutive nouns. They often gain an umlaut and are always neuter.
3. 'Wenn' means ‘when’, ‘whenever’ of ‘if’ and is used for repeated actions or conditions in the present or future.
4. 'Als' means ‘when’ to refer to a specific past event or point in time.
5. Both 'als' and 'wenn' trigger word order 3, sending the finite verb to the end of the sentence or clause.

Keywords

• Wenn - conjunction meaning ‘if’ or ‘when’ which triggers word order 3

• Als - conjunction meaning ‘when’, referring to specific past events, which triggers word order 3

• Word order 3 - (WO3) after certain conjunctions, the verb is sent to the end of the sentence or clause

• -chen, -lein - suffixes added to nouns to make diminutive or ‘little’ forms

Common misconception