Im Winter trage ich einen roten Mantel, wenn ich zur Arbeit gehe.

in

Breakdown of Im Winter trage ich einen roten Mantel, wenn ich zur Arbeit gehe.

• dem: the; (masculine or neuter, dative)
• ich: I
• gehen: to go

Questions & Answers about Im Winter trage ich einen roten Mantel, wenn ich zur Arbeit gehe.

Why is Im Winter used instead of In den Winter?

In German, when you indicate time periods (months, seasons) with in, you use the dative case. im is a contraction of in dem (dative masculine), so im Winter means “in (the) winter.” In den Winter would be accusative (implying motion into winter), which isn’t how you express “during winter.”

Why is the verb trage directly after Im Winter and before ich?

German main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the conjugated verb must occupy the second position. When an adverbial phrase like Im Winter comes first, the verb comes next, and the subject (ich) follows.

Why is there a comma before wenn ich zur Arbeit gehe, and why does gehe appear at the end of that clause?

Because wenn ich zur Arbeit gehe is a subordinate clause introduced by wenn. In German:

• You always put a comma before a subordinate clause.
• The conjugated verb moves to the end of the subordinate clause.

Why use wenn here instead of als?