Learn Hardcore German: Wenn ich lernen will, schalte ich alle sozialen Medien aus, weil sie mich zu sehr ablenken. - When I want to study, I switch off all social media because they distract me too much.

Wenn and weil both introduce subordinate clauses in German. In most subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb goes to the very end of the clause.

Wenn ich lernen will
- wenn (subordinating conjunction)
- ich (subject)
- lernen (infinitive)
- will (conjugated verb → sent to the end)
weil sie mich zu sehr ablenken
- weil (subordinating conjunction)
- sie (subject)
- mich (object)
- zu sehr (adverbial phrase)
- ablenken (conjugated verb → at the end)

This is a key pattern:

Main clause: verb usually in 2nd position
Subordinate clause (introduced by words like weil, dass, wenn, obwohl, als etc.): conjugated verb at the very end

Why does the main clause start with schalte ich instead of ich schalte?

In German, a main clause must have the conjugated verb in 2nd position, but the thing in 1st position can change.

Here, the sentence begins with a subordinate clause:

Wenn ich lernen will, → entire clause is in the 1st position of the sentence.

So the next element, in the main clause, must be the verb:

schalte (2nd position → verb)
ich (3rd position → subject)
alle sozialen Medien aus (rest)

So:

Standard word order:
- Ich schalte alle sozialen Medien aus.
After a clause at the beginning (like Wenn ich lernen will,):
- Wenn ich lernen will, schalte ich alle sozialen Medien aus.

This kind of inversion after an initial element (like a time phrase or a subordinate clause) is completely normal in German and is just a consequence of the verb-needs-to-be-2nd rule.

Why is there no zu before lernen in will lernen?

German uses zu with most infinitives (e.g. anfangen zu lernen, versuchen zu lernen), but modal verbs are an exception. With modal verbs, you do not use zu.

Wollen is a modal verb, so the pattern is:

ich will lernen = I want to learn / I want to study
not: ❌ ich will zu lernen

Other modal examples:

ich muss lernen (I must study)
ich kann Deutsch sprechen (I can speak German)
ich darf heute länger bleiben (I’m allowed to stay longer today)

So:
Modal verb (conjugated) + infinitive (without zu)

What is the difference between wenn and als or wann? Could I use one of those instead?

In this sentence:

Wenn ich lernen will, … = When(ever) I want to study, …

Here’s the difference:

wenn
- Used for repeated events in the past, present, or future
- Also used for general conditions (if/whenever)
- Example: Wenn ich müde bin, trinke ich Kaffee.
  (When(ever) I am tired, I drink coffee.)
als
- Used for one single event in the past
- Example: Als ich 10 Jahre alt war, hatte ich einen Hund.
  (When I was 10 years old, I had a dog. → one specific time)
wann
- Used in questions about time (direct or indirect)
- Example: Wann lernst du? (When do you study?)
  Ich weiß nicht, wann er lernt. (I don’t know when he studies.)

In your sentence, you are talking about a regularly repeated situation / general rule:

Wenn ich lernen will, … ✅
Als ich lernen will, … ❌ (wrong meaning & wrong tense)
Wann ich lernen will, … ❌ (sounds like a question clause, not a condition)

Why is lernen used here and not studieren?

German makes a distinction that English often doesn’t:

lernen = to learn / to study (for school, for an exam, learning vocab, etc.)
- Ich lerne für die Prüfung. (I’m studying for the exam.)
- Ich lerne Deutsch. (I’m learning German.)
studieren = to study at a university, usually referring to your major/degree program
- Ich studiere Medizin. (I study medicine / I’m a medical student.)
- Sie studiert an der Universität Berlin. (She studies at the University of Berlin.)

In your sentence, you are talking about the act of doing study/learning (e.g. homework, exam prep), not about being enrolled in a university program. So lernen is the natural verb:

Wenn ich lernen will, … = When I want to study (do my learning), …

What’s going on with schalte … aus? Why is the verb split?

Ausschalten is a separable verb:

Base form: ausschalten = to switch off / to turn off
- Prefix: aus-
- Verb stem: -schalten

In a main clause in the present tense, separable verbs split:

Ich schalte das Licht aus. (I switch off the light.)
- schalte in 2nd position (conjugated verb)
- aus goes to the end of the clause

In your sentence:

schalte = 2nd position of the main clause
alle sozialen Medien = object
aus = at the end

So:

Wenn ich lernen will, schalte ich alle sozialen Medien aus, …

In other tenses / structures, they behave differently:

Ich habe alle sozialen Medien ausgeschaltet. (past, prefix stays attached to the participle)
Ich möchte alle sozialen Medien ausschalten. (infinitive form at the end, not split)

Why is it alle sozialen Medien and not alle soziale Medien?

This is about adjective endings and case.

alle here is acting like a determiner (all).
Medien is plural (from das Medium → die Medien).
The phrase alle sozialen Medien is the direct object of the verb schalten, so it’s in the accusative plural.

For accusative plural with a determiner like alle, the adjective takes -en:

alle sozialen Medien
- alle = determiner
- sozial- = adjective stem
- -en = accusative plural adjective ending
- Medien = plural noun

Other examples (accusative plural with a determiner):

Ich sehe die alten Filme.
Wir kaufen diese roten Äpfel.
Er liebt seine kleinen Hunde.

So alle sozialen Medien is the grammatically correct form; alle soziale Medien would be incorrect here.

How do we know alle sozialen Medien is in the accusative case?

In this sentence, alle sozialen Medien is the thing being switched off. That makes it the direct object of the verb schalten (aus).

In German, the direct object is typically in the accusative case.

Subject: ich (nominative)
Verb: schalte … aus
Direct object (what is being switched off?): alle sozialen Medien → accusative

If you replaced it with a pronoun, you’d get:

Ich schalte sie aus. (I switch them off.)
- sie here is accusative plural (them), confirming the case.

Why does the pronoun sie refer to alle sozialen Medien?

Medien is the plural of das Medium. In the plural, all genders share the same article:

die Medien (the media)

In German, the 3rd person plural pronoun is sie (they / them), regardless of the gender the singular noun would have.

So:

alle sozialen Medien → plural noun phrase → pronoun: sie
weil sie mich zu sehr ablenken
- sie = they → refers back to alle sozialen Medien
- ablenken is conjugated for sie (they)

This is the same sie as in:

Sie sind laut. (They are loud.)
Ich sehe sie. (I see them.)

What is the difference between zu sehr ablenken and zu viel ablenken? Why use zu sehr here?

Both zu sehr and zu viel can be translated with too much, but they are used a bit differently:

zu sehr = too intensely / too strongly / to too great an extent
- Modifies the degree of a quality or action.
- Works well with adjectives and verbs:
  - Es stört mich zu sehr. (It bothers me too much.)
  - Sie schreien zu sehr. (They shout too much / too loudly.)
zu viel = too much (quantity)
- Often about how many / how much of something:
  - Ich trinke zu viel Kaffee. (I drink too much coffee. → quantity)
  - Ich habe zu viel Arbeit. (I have too much work.)

In sie mich zu sehr ablenken, the focus is on how strongly / how badly they distract you, not on “the amount of distractions” as countable items. So zu sehr sounds more natural, like:

because they distract me too much / too badly / far too much.

You could say weil sie mich zu viel ablenken, and it would be understood, but zu sehr feels more idiomatic here.

Could I just say weil sie mich sehr ablenken without zu? What changes?

Yes, you can say:

weil sie mich sehr ablenken = because they distract me a lot / very much

The difference:

sehr = very / a lot (strong, but not necessarily excessive)
zu sehr = too much (crosses some limit; more than is acceptable)

So:

weil sie mich sehr ablenken → factual: they distract you a lot.
weil sie mich zu sehr ablenken → evaluative: they distract you more than you can tolerate; it’s a problem.

In your original sentence, zu sehr fits well because it justifies why you turn off social media: the distraction is too strong.