wann? Asking for a point in time.

wann means "when?" It asks for a point in time, nothing else. It works in direct questions and in indirect ones, where, like wenn, it sends the verb to the end. wann can never mean "if."

Easy to confuse with wenn, which looks similar but does a completely different job: wenn vs. wann. Two words, one English word.

wann asks, wenn states

English uses "when" both to ask a question and to link two statements. German keeps these jobs apart. wann only ever asks. If the sentence is a question, even a hidden one, wann is your word.

English	German	Job
When does the train leave?	Wann fährt derZug ab?	Question
When the train leaves, we go.	Wenn derZug abfährt, gehen wir.	Statement
When do you have time?	Wann hast du Zeit?	Question

Direct questions: the verb stays in position two

In a direct question, wann behaves like wer, was, or wo. It opens the sentence, the verb follows immediately in second position, then the subject.

wann	Verb	Subject	Rest
Wann	kommst	du nach Hause	?
Wann	beginnt	derKurs	?
Wann	hat	sie	Geburtstag?

Indirect questions: the verb goes to the end

wann also introduces indirect questions, a question embedded inside another sentence. The moment wann moves inside a larger sentence, it follows the same rule as weil, dass, and wenn: the verb goes to the very end.

Main clause	wann	Subject	Middle	Verb (last)
Ich weiß nicht,	wann	derKurs		beginnt.
Kannst du mir sagen,	wann	derBus		fährt?
Sie hat gefragt,	wann	wir	Zeit	haben.

This sentence has no question mark. It is a statement. But it still contains a hidden question, "When does the course begin?", and that hidden question still needs wann.

Answering a wann question

Answers to wann usually come with a time word → um for clock times, am for days, im for months and seasons.

• Wann beginnt derKurs? → Um 9 Uhr. (At 9 o'clock.)
• Wann hast du Zeit? → Am Montag. (On Monday.)
• Wann ist dein Geburtstag? → Im März. (In March.)

The one thing wann never does

wann never means "if." Never translate "if" with wann. That job belongs to wenn alone.

The full picture, side by side: wenn vs. wann. Two words, one English word. wenn for present, future, and repeated situations: wenn. When or if, the verb goes last. als for one moment in the past: als. One moment in the past.