Learn Hardcore German: Wenn jemand stolpert, weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt, lachen wir nicht. - If someone trips because the extension cable is in the way, we do not laugh.

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

wenn jemand stolpert
– wenn = subordinator
– jemand = subject
– stolpert = verb at the end
weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt
– weil = subordinator
– das Verlängerungskabel = subject
– im Weg = prepositional phrase
– liegt = verb at the end

So: subordinating conjunction → (other elements) → verb at the end is the regular pattern.

Why is it lachen wir nicht and not wir lachen nicht at the end of the sentence?

In main clauses, German requires verb-second (V2) word order: the finite verb must be the second element in the clause.

Your sentence:

Wenn jemand stolpert, weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt, lachen wir nicht.

The entire wenn… weil… part counts as one single element (a big adverbial clause) in the main clause. So the next thing must be the verb:

First element: Wenn jemand stolpert, weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt
Second element (must be the finite verb): lachen
Then comes the subject: wir
Then nicht at the end.

So after the long subordinate clause, lachen wir nicht is the only correct main-clause order.
If you wanted wir lachen nicht, you’d have to put the main clause first:

Wir lachen nicht, wenn jemand stolpert, weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt.

Why is wenn used here, and not als or wann?

The sentence is about a general, repeated condition:
“If / whenever someone trips because the cable is in the way, we don’t laugh.”

wenn is used for:
- conditional if
- repeated/typical when(ever) situations (present, past, future)
als is used for:
- single events in the past
- Example: Als ich klein war, habe ich oft gespielt. – When I was small (once in my life)…
wann is used for:
- questions about time (direct or indirect)
- Example: Wann kommst du? – When are you coming?
  Ich weiß nicht, wann er kommt. – I don’t know when he is coming.

Here we have a general rule / repeated possibility, so wenn is correct, not als or wann.

Could I also say Falls jemand stolpert, … instead of Wenn jemand stolpert, …? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Wenn jemand stolpert, …
Falls jemand stolpert, …

Both are grammatically correct, but the nuance is slightly different:

wenn is neutral: “if / whenever” – no special comment about how likely it is.
falls sounds more like “in case” / a more hypothetical if. It often implies that the situation is not very likely, or it’s more of a precaution.

In this context, wenn sounds more neutral and common.
Falls would have a small nuance of “in case someone happens to trip, we don’t laugh.”

Why do we need commas before and after weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt?

German uses commas very systematically to mark clause boundaries.

Your sentence actually has three clauses:

Wenn jemand stolpert – subordinate clause (introduced by wenn)
weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt – subordinate clause (introduced by weil)
lachen wir nicht – main clause

The rules:

Subordinate clauses are separated by commas from the rest of the sentence.
When two clauses (even two subordinate ones) stand next to each other, they are also separated by a comma.

So we get:

Wenn jemand stolpert,
weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt,
lachen wir nicht.

Leaving out the comma before weil (… stolpert weil das …) would be incorrect in standard written German.

Could I use denn instead of weil here? What would change?

You could rephrase, but the structure changes:

Original:
Wenn jemand stolpert, weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt, lachen wir nicht.
With denn (coordinating conjunction), you’d need two separate main clauses:
- Jemand stolpert, denn das Verlängerungskabel liegt im Weg. – Someone trips, because the extension cord is in the way.

Key differences:

weil introduces a subordinate clause, so the verb goes to the end:
… weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt.
denn introduces a main clause, so the verb stays in second position:
… denn das Verlängerungskabel liegt im Weg.

In your original sentence, weil is better because the whole thing is like one big condition:
“If someone trips because the extension cord is in the way, we don’t laugh.”
Using denn there wouldn’t fit neatly into that single conditional structure.

What does im Weg mean exactly, and why not auf dem Weg?

im Weg is an idiomatic expression meaning “in the way, obstructing, blocking the path.”

im Weg sein / liegen / stehen = to be in the way
- Das Verlängerungskabel liegt im Weg.
  → The extension cord is in the way (it’s where people walk and they can trip over it).

auf dem Weg means something else:

literally “on the way / on the path”
Can mean:
- physically lying on the path
- or “on the way (to somewhere)” as in Ich bin auf dem Weg nach Hause. – I’m on my way home.

So:

im Weg focuses on obstruction / hindrance.
auf dem Weg focuses on location/direction, not necessarily that it’s blocking anything.

In this sentence we want the idea of obstruction, so im Weg is correct.

Why is it liegt and not ist in das Verlängerungskabel im Weg liegt?

Both are grammatically possible, but they have different nuances:

liegt im Weg – literally “lies in the way”
- Emphasizes the lying position of the cable (on the floor, stretched out).
- Very natural for long, flexible objects like cables, hoses, ropes, etc.
ist im Weg – “is in the way”
- More neutral, just states that it’s obstructing, without highlighting how it is positioned.

In everyday speech, liegt im Weg sounds very natural for a cable lying on the ground where people walk.
You could say:

Weil das Verlängerungskabel im Weg ist – also correct, just slightly less specific about the posture.

Why is it das Verlängerungskabel? How is the gender of this compound noun determined?

Verlängerungskabel is a compound noun made from:

die Verlängerung (extension)
das Kabel (cable)

In German, the gender of a compound noun is determined by the last element of the compound. Here the last element is Kabel, which is neuter (das Kabel). Therefore:

das Verlängerungskabel – neuter

This is a general rule:

die Hand + die Tasche → die Handtasche (feminine)
die Sonnen + die Brille → die Sonnenbrille (feminine)
der Tisch + das Bein → das Tischbein (neuter, because Bein is neuter)

Why is Verlängerungskabel written as one word and not as two words?

German typically writes compound nouns as a single word.

Verlängerung + Kabel → Verlängerungskabel

You don’t write:

✗ Verlängerung Kabel
✗ Verlängerungs Kabel

A few notes:

Often, compounds are just glued together directly: Verlängerung
- Kabel = Verlängerungskabel.
Sometimes a linking letter appears (often -s-, -n-, etc.), e.g.
Arbeit
- Zimmer → Arbeitszimmer.
Here, a linking -s- is not used; it’s simply Verlängerungskabel.

So when you see a descriptive phrase like “extension cable”, in German it very often becomes one long word.

Why is it jemand stolpert and not jemanden stolpert?

jemand is an indefinite pronoun meaning “someone” / “somebody”.

In your sentence, jemand is the subject of the verb stolpern (“to trip”):

Wer stolpert? – Jemand stolpert.
(Who is tripping? – Someone is tripping.)

As the subject, it must be in the nominative case:

Nominative (subject): jemand
Accusative (direct object): jemanden
Dative (indirect object): jemandem
Genitive (rare): jemandes

Examples:

Jemand stolpert. – Someone trips. (subject → nominative)
Ich sehe jemanden. – I see someone. (object → accusative)

So jemand stolpert is correct; jemanden stolpert would be wrong here.

Why is jemand lowercase but Verlängerungskabel is capitalized?

In German:

All nouns are capitalized.
Pronouns are usually not capitalized (with a few specific exceptions like polite Sie).

In your sentence:

Verlängerungskabel is a noun → capitalized: Verlängerungskabel
jemand is an indefinite pronoun → written in lowercase: jemand

So the capitalization tells you something about the word type: nouns vs pronouns.

Where does nicht go, and could we put it somewhere else in lachen wir nicht?

In the sentence:

…, lachen wir nicht.

the scope of nicht is the verb phrase “lachen wir” – we are denying the fact that we laugh.

In a simple main clause like Wir lachen nicht, the usual neutral position of nicht is:

after the verb and after the subject, but
before any more specific elements you might want to negate.

In your V2 structure with inversion (lachen wir), that rule still applies:

verb (2nd) → lachen
subject → wir
negation → nicht

So lachen wir nicht is the normal, neutral order.
Moving nicht elsewhere here (e.g. nicht lachen wir) is either ungrammatical or would create a very odd/emphatic structure that doesn’t fit this context.