when
Pronunciation
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Pronunciation
- (America) enPR hwĕn, IPA: /ʍɛn/, /wɛn/
- (pin-pen) IPA: /ʍɪn/, /wɪn/
- (Ireland, Scotland) enPR: hwĕn, IPA: /ʍɛn/
- (RP) enPR: wĕn, IPA: /wɛn/
when (not comparable)
- (interrogative) At what time? At which time? Upon which occasion or circumstance? Used to introduce direct or indirect questions about time.
- When will they arrive?
- Do you know when they arrived?
- I don't know when they arrived.
- When they arrived is unknown.
- 1834, Samuel Kirkham, English Grammar in Familiar Lectures, page 117:
- What words are used as interrogative pronouns? — Give examples.
- When are the words, what, which, and that, called adj. pron.?
- When are they called interrogative pronominal adjectives?
- At an earlier time and under different, usually less favorable, circumstances.
- He's mister high and mighty now, but I remember him when.
- (relative) At which, on which, during which: often omitted or replaced with that.
- That was the day when the Twin Towers fell.
- At (or as soon as) that time that; at the (or any and every) time that; if.
- Pavlov's dogs salivate when [i.e. at any and every time that] they hear a bell.
- Put your pencil down when [i.e. as soon as, at the moment that] the timer goes off.
- A player wins when [as soon as, or at any time that, if] she has four cards of the same suit.
- A student is disqualified when [as soon as, if] they cheat.
- 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384 ↗:
- Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
- During the time that; at the time of the action of the following clause or participle phrase.
- They dream when [i.e. during the time that] they sleep.
- I'm happiest when [during the time that, or at any time that] I’m working.
- It was raining when I came yesterday.
- The game is over when the referee says it is.
- Be careful when crossing the street.
- When (you are) angry, count to ten before speaking or acting.
- At what time; at which time.
- I am here till Friday, when [i.e. at which time] I leave for Senegal.
- I was just walking down the street, when [i.e. at which time] all of a sudden it started to rain.
- 1839, John Donne, The Works of John Donne: Sermons, Letters, Poems, page 310:
- I am at London only to provide for Monday, when I shall use that favour which my Lady Bedford hath afforded me, of giving her name to my daughter; which I mention to you, [...]
- Since; given the fact that; considering that.
- I don't see the point of putting up Christmas decorations when I am the only person who is going to see them.
- Whereas; although; at the same time as; in spite of the fact that.
- You're picking at your scabs when you should be letting them heal.
- He keeps changing things when the existing system works perfectly well.
- 1840, Francis Beaumont, Knight of the Burning Pestle, ii. 2, in The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher with an Introduction by George Darley, page 81:
- Oh, age, Where only wealthy men are counted happy! How shall I please thee, how deserve thy smiles, When I am only rich in misery?
- (as soon as) as soon as, immediately, once
- (every time that) whenever
- (during the time that) while, whilst; see also Thesaurus:while
- (at any time that) whenever
- (at which time)
- (given the fact that) given that, seeing that; see also Thesaurus:because
- (in spite of the fact that) but, where, whereas
- French: dès que
- German: wenn, sobald
- Italian: quando
- Portuguese: quando, assim que
- Russian: когда́
- Spanish: cuando
- (interrogative) What time; which time.
- Since when do I need your permission?
- circa 1611 William Shakespeare, Tempest:
- Shortly [...] I'll resolve you [...] these happen'd accidents, till when, be cheerful.
- 1831 (published), John Davies, Orchestra Or, a Poem of Dancing, in Robert Southey, Select Works of the British Poets: From Chaucer to Jonson, with Biographical Sketches, page 706:
- Homer, to whom the Muses did carouse
- A great deep cup with heav'nly nectar fill'd,
- The greatest, deepest cup in Jove's great house,
- (For Jove himself had so expressly will'd)
- He drank off all, nor let one drop be spill'd;
- Since when, his brain that had before been dry,
- Became the well-spring of all poetry.
- 1833, William Potts Dewees, A Treatise on the Diseases of Females, page 495:
- [This] we imagined might have been owing to some accidental condition of the system, or perhaps idiosyncracy; this led us to a second trial, but we experienced the same inconveniences, since when, we have altogether abandoned their use.
- 2012, Emile Letournel, Robert Judet, Fractures of the Acetabulum, Springer Science & Business Media (ISBN 9783642754357), page 385:
- So we combined the Kocher-Langenbeck and iliofemoral approach until 1965, since when we have combined the ilioinguinal and Kocher-Langenbeck approaches.
- The time that.
- I recall when they were called the Greys.
- Next year is when we elect a new mayor.
when (plural whens)
- The time at which something happens.
- A good article will cover the who, the what, the when, the where, the why and the how.
- 2008, Paolo Aite, Lanscapes of the Psyche, Ipoc Press (ISBN 9788895145211), page 151:
- For the moment, suffice it to say that the stories told through the whens and hows of building a scene differentiate individual desires and needs more clearly than shared speech was up to then able to communicate.
- That's enough, a command to stop adding something, especially an ingredient of food or drink.
- (obsolete) Expressing impatience. (Compare what.)
- circa 1590, William shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, act 4, scene 1:
- Why, when, I say? ...
- Off with my boots, you rogues! You villains, when? ...
- Out, you rogue!
- circa 1615-1657 Thomas Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, volume 1:
- Why, when? begin, sir: I must stay your leisure.
- circa 1600 Sir John Oldcastle, iv. 1:
- Set, parson, set; the dice die in my hand.
- When, parson, when! what, can you find no more?
- circa 1590, William shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, act 4, scene 1:
- Italian: basta
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004