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### Repeated Actions with *sooft*

When you want to describe an event that repeatedly triggers a specific outcome—like the daily annoyance of spam calls—German uses the subordinating conjunction **sooft** (whenever / every time that).

Because **sooft** is a subordinating conjunction, it sends the conjugated verb to the very end of its clause. When you start your sentence with the **sooft** clause, the main clause immediately follows with its conjugated verb.

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You can also place the main clause first. In this case, the main clause follows standard word order, and the **sooft** clause follows the comma, ending with its conjugated verb.

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Whether you are ignoring a caller or listening to unsolicited offers, **sooft** highlights the recurring nature of the annoyance.

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### Using *sooft* in the Past Tense

The word order rules for **sooft** remain exactly the same when describing recurring habits or events in the past.

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Repeated temporal actions (sooft)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
whenever	sooft
the telemarketing call	der Werbeanruf
Whenever my telephone rings, it is a telemarketing call.	Sooft mein Telefon klingelt, ist es ein Werbeanruf.
to pick up (the phone)	abheben
I do not pick up whenever the number is unknown.	Ich hebe nicht ab, sooft die Nummer unbekannt ist.
the caller	der Anrufer
The caller seems to want to sell something.	Der Anrufer scheint etwas verkaufen zu wollen.
to bother	belästigen
unsolicited	unaufgefordert
They bother me unsolicited with questions.	Sie belästigen mich unaufgefordert mit Fragen.
Whenever they call, they promise a car or money.	Sooft sie anrufen, versprechen sie ein Auto oder Geld.
the sweepstakes	das Gewinnspiel
However, I never participated in a sweepstakes.	Allerdings habe ich nie bei einem Gewinnspiel mitgemacht.
the call center	das Callcenter
to hang up	auflegen
Whenever the call center called, my father hung up immediately.	Sooft das Callcenter anrief, legte mein Vater sofort auf.
Whenever I hang up, they call again.	Sooft ich auflege, rufen sie wieder an.
the phone call	das Telefonat
A long phone call would be a big mistake.	Ein langes Telefonat wäre ein großer Fehler.
Whenever the caller speaks, I ignore him.	Sooft der Anrufer spricht, ignoriere ich ihn.
The call center bothers us almost every day.	Das Callcenter belästigt uns fast jeden Tag.
He talks about the sweepstakes, however I hang up.	Er redet über das Gewinnspiel, allerdings lege ich auf.
I hate the phone call whenever they call unsolicited.	Ich hasse das Telefonat, sooft sie unaufgefordert anrufen.
The telemarketing call seems to be a scam.	Der Werbeanruf scheint ein Betrug zu sein.
I did not pick up whenever the telephone rang.	Ich hob nicht ab, sooft das Telefon klingelte.