Learn Hardcore German: Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, sprechen wir darüber, bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden. - When something seems unfair, we talk about it until we find a fair solution.

Wenn is a subordinating conjunction (like weil, dass, obwohl). In German, subordinating conjunctions send the conjugated verb to the end of the clause.

Normal word order (main clause): Etwas wirkt ungerecht. – Something seems unfair.
With wenn: Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt … – When/If something seems unfair …

So the pattern is:

Wenn
- subject + (other elements) + verb

Why does the next part start with sprechen wir and not wir sprechen?

After a dependent (subordinate) clause comes first, German usually inverts the word order in the main clause: the finite verb comes before the subject.

Neutral main clause: Wir sprechen darüber. – We talk about it.
After a fronted element (here: a wenn-clause):
Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, sprechen wir darüber.

Structure:

Subordinate clause: Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt,
Main clause with inversion: sprechen (verb) + wir (subject) + rest.

This inversion is standard German word order when anything other than the subject comes first in a sentence.

Does wenn here mean “if” or “when”? How do I know?

Wenn can mean either if or whenever/when, depending on context.

In this sentence:

Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, sprechen wir darüber, bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden.

it describes a repeated or general situation: Whenever something seems unfair, we talk about it… That’s closer to “when(ever)” than a hypothetical “if”.

Rough guide:

wenn = whenever/when for repeated/general situations:
Wenn ich müde bin, trinke ich Kaffee. – When(ever) I am tired, I drink coffee.
wenn = if for conditions:
Wenn es regnet, bleiben wir zu Hause. – If it rains, we stay at home.

What is the difference between wirkt ungerecht and ist ungerecht?

ist ungerecht = is unjust/unfair (states a fact)
wirkt ungerecht = seems/appears unjust (how something comes across)

wirken in this sense means to seem / to appear (to someone).

Using wirkt makes the statement a bit softer and more subjective:

Das ist ungerecht. – This is unfair. (strong statement)
Das wirkt ungerecht. – This seems unfair. (we perceive it that way)

In the sentence, wirkt fits well because the idea is “whenever something comes across as unfair (to us), we talk about it”.

Why is it etwas ungerecht but eine gerechte Lösung? Why no ending on ungerecht?

You are seeing two different uses of adjectives:

Predicate adjective (no ending):
- etwas ungerecht wirkt
  Here, ungerecht comes after the verb (wirkt) and describes the subject (etwas). Predicate adjectives in German do not take endings:
- Das ist gut.
- Er bleibt ruhig.
Attributive adjective (with ending):
- eine gerechte Lösung
  Here, gerechte stands directly before the noun Lösung and must agree with it in gender, number, and case, and with the article.

Breakdown of eine gerechte Lösung:

Lösung – feminine noun
eine – indefinite article, nominative feminine singular
Adjective ending in this pattern: -e → gerechte

So:

After verbs like sein, werden, bleiben, wirken, no ending: ungerecht
Before a noun, with an article: eine gerechte Lösung (with ending)

What exactly does darüber mean, and why not just sprechen wir without it?

darüber = dar + über and literally means “about that” or “about it”.

The verb sprechen usually needs a preposition to show what you talk about:
über etwas sprechen – to talk about something

When you don’t want to repeat the full phrase, you replace über + das/es with darüber:

Wir sprechen über das Problem.
Wir sprechen darüber. – We talk about it/that.

In the sentence:

sprechen wir darüber

darüber refers back to etwas ungerecht (the thing that seems unfair).
If you said only sprechen wir, it would be incomplete/odd: we talk – about what? The pronoun darüber is needed to make the meaning complete.

Why is the verb finden at the end of bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden?

Again, this is because bis here introduces a subordinate clause. Like wenn, dass, weil, bis is a subordinating conjunction when it introduces a time clause (until).

Subordinate clause word order:

Conjunction + subject + (objects, other stuff) + finite verb at the end

So:

Main clause: Wir finden eine gerechte Lösung.
With bis: bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden

Full structure:

Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, (subordinate, verb at end)
sprechen wir darüber, (main clause with inversion)
bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden. (subordinate, verb at end)

Why is it wir finden and not wir werden finden, even though it’s about the future?

German often uses the present tense to talk about future events when the time is clear from context or from words like bis, morgen, bald, etc.

In English, you must say “until we find a fair solution” (also present), so it matches nicely here. But for other future contexts:

German: Morgen gehen wir ins Kino. (present)
English: Tomorrow we will go to the cinema.

In this sentence, bis already implies a future endpoint, so finden in the present is normal German:

… bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden.
… until we find a fair solution.

Could I use reden instead of sprechen here? Is there a difference?

You could say:

Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, reden wir darüber, bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden.

This is grammatically fine.

Differences in nuance:

sprechen (über) – a bit more neutral/formal; often used in written language and careful speech.
reden (über) – slightly more colloquial, often used in everyday conversation.

In this context both fit; sprechen might sound a touch more neutral or “standard”, but the meaning is essentially the same: to talk about it.

Can the parts of the sentence be rearranged, for example starting with Wir sprechen?

Yes, you can reorder main and subordinate clauses, but the verb positions stay the same. Some options:

Original:
Wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, sprechen wir darüber, bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden.
Main clause first:
Wir sprechen darüber, wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt, bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden.
Move the bis-clause to the front:
Bis wir eine gerechte Lösung finden, sprechen wir darüber, wenn etwas ungerecht wirkt.

Things that do not change:

In all wenn/bis-clauses, the finite verb is at the end (wirkt, finden).
In each main clause, the finite verb is in the second position (sprechen).