Life before smartphones and the internet looked very different! To reminisce about how we used to do things, we often talk about repeated past habits—like listening to cassettes or looking things up in heavy encyclopedias.
Past habits with "wenn"
To describe repeated or habitual events in the past, German uses the subordinating conjunction wenn (when / whenever).
Keep in mind that for a single, one-time event in the past, German uses a different word (als). But when you mean "whenever" something happened repeatedly, you must use wenn. You will often see it paired with words like früher (in the past) or damals (back then) to emphasize that it was a habit.
| When my father looked for a gift in the past, he bought a vinyl record somewhere. | Wenn mein Vater früher ein Geschenk gesucht hat, hat er irgendwo eine Schallplatte gekauft. |
| When we traveled by car back then, we always listened to a cassette. | Wenn wir damals mit dem Auto gefahren sind, haben wir immer eine Kassette gehört. |
The verb-comma-verb rule
Because wenn is a subordinating conjunction, it sends the conjugated verb to the very end of its clause.
When you start your sentence with the wenn clause, that entire clause takes up the first position of the sentence. To keep the conjugated verb of the main clause in its strict second position, the main clause must start with its verb immediately after the comma.
This creates a helpful pattern: the verb of the wenn clause and the verb of the main clause sit right next to each other, separated only by a comma.
| When I didn't know the answer, I looked it up in the encyclopedia. | Wenn ich die Antwort nicht wusste, habe ich sie im Lexikon nachgeschlagen. |
| When my mother typed on the typewriter, she brought the letter to the mailbox afterwards. | Wenn meine Mutter auf der Schreibmaschine getippt hat, hat sie den Brief danach zum Briefkasten gebracht. |
"Wenn" at the end of the sentence
A wenn clause doesn't have to start the sentence. It can also appear at the end, continuing to push its own conjugated verb to the very end of the clause.
| Although the telephone directory was thick, we somehow found the address when we searched for it. | Obwohl das Telefonbuch dick war, haben wir die Adresse irgendwie gefunden, wenn wir sie gesucht haben. |
| Although it was cold, we waited in front of the telephone booth when someone talked on the phone. | Obwohl es kalt war, haben wir vor der Telefonzelle gewartet, wenn jemand telefoniert hat. |