Breakdown of Wenn du viel arbeitest, wirst du viel Erfolg haben.
du
you (informal singular)
arbeiten
to work
haben
to have
viel
much / a lot
der Erfolg
the success
wenn
if / when (conditional, not a question word)
werden
will (future auxiliary)
Questions & Answers about Wenn du viel arbeitest, wirst du viel Erfolg haben.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with wirst du instead of du wirst?
In German, the conjugated verb in a main clause must be in the second position. The entire 'if' phrase (Wenn du viel arbeitest) counts as position one! Because of this, the verb wirst comes right after the comma to take position two, followed by the subject du. A handy trick to remember this is the 'verb-comma-verb' rule: arbeitest, wirst.
How is the future tense built in the second half of this sentence?
To talk about the future (Futur I), German uses a conjugated form of werden plus the infinitive (the dictionary form) of the main verb. Here, werden is conjugated as wirst to match du. The main verb haben (to have) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.
Can wenn mean both 'if' and 'when'?
Yes! In German, wenn is used for both 'if' (conditions) and 'when' (events in the present or future). In this sentence, it translates best as 'if' because it sets up a condition for your future success.
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