How to Properly Use IF and WHEN - Learn English Grammar

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Hi, everybody.

My name is Alisha and today, I'm going to talk about the difference between “if”

and “when.”

Some of you have asked questions about this and I've noticed that some people make some

key and maybe dangerous mistakes between these two words.

So, let's talk about when to use them.

Okay, let's talk about “when” first.

We use “when” when there's 100% certainty something is going to happen.

For example, with travel plans, “when you arrive in the country,” or “when you get

to my house,” for example, or, “when you register for classes.”

So, 100% certainty something is going to happen.

I've made a timeline here, as I like to do, on a timeline here, the image you can think

about is that when, I've used a green line here, it's going to happen, it's definitely

going to happen.

We use “when” when we know something is going to happen, there's 100% certainty here.

This is a key point, it's going to happen.

“If,” on the other hand, we use “if” if there's only a chance something is going

to happen.

There's only a chance, it is not determined, it is not something that has been decided.

“If” is used for a chance something will occur.

“If” is not used in cases where we know something is going to happen or something

should happen.

“If” is only used to express chance or possibility.

On the same timeline here in red, I've made a dotted line to express “if.”

There's a possibility in the future something might happen, there's a chance in the future

something might happen.

In these cases, we use “if.”

For example, “if you lose your student ID card,” “if you get lost,” for example.

So, please, please be careful.

Don't use “if” in cases where there's 100% certainty something is going to happen.

And, on the other hand, don't use “when” in cases where there's only a chance something

will happen.

Making a mistake between these two words can destroy relationships or it can just--it can

really cause some serious confusion.

So, I made a few examples sentences that I've actually seen, some that are similar to these.

Let's take a look and see why making a mistake could be really, really dangerous or could

really damage a relationship if you make a mistake with these two.

Let's take a look.

Alright, so, first sentence.

“Blah, blah, blah, we break up what are you going to do?

So, if you don't know the word, “breakup,” it means to end a romantic relationship, to

break up with someone.

Here, let's think, “if” or “when.”

If we look at this rule, if I say “when,” if I'm speaking to my partner, if I say, “When

we break up, what are you going to do?”

If I choose the word, “when,” it sounds like, in my mind, to me, I've decided, I know

100%, I'm certain, we are going to break up.

This sounds very, very sad and probably to my partner if my partner doesn't know my feelings.

So, if I say, “When we break up, what are you going to do?”

It sounds like I've decided to end their relationship.

That's probably not what I want to say.

In this case, let's use “if.”

“If we break up,” there's a chance, “If we break up, what are you going to do?”

So, let's use “if” here.

Of course, this is a very serious sentence anyway but using “if” shows there's only

a chance of a breakup.

“When” shows it's definite, you've decided already.

So, please be careful.

Let's look at another very interesting sentence.

“Something, something, your wallet gets stolen, call me.”

“Your wallet gets stolen,” so, here, if I use “when” here, “When your wallet

gets stolen, call me,” means the speaker expects the listener’s wallet will be stolen.

That sounds very, very strange, a little mysterious, right?

So, “If your wallet gets stolen,” however, it sounds like there's a chance, maybe the

listener is going somewhere dangerous, for example.

So, in this case, “if” is a much better choice, “when” sounds like the speaker

has some secret plan, maybe.

“When your wallet gets stolen,” sounds like the speaker has maybe made plans or knows

mysteriously somehow that the listener’s wallet is going to get stolen.

Let's use “if” in this sentence.

Here's another one.

“Blah, blah, blah, you hear screaming,” so, “screaming” means loud terrified voice.

“If you hear a loud terrified screaming voice, don't worry.”

So, if you say, “When you hear screaming, don't worry,” or, “If you hear screaming,

don't worry.”

So, I suppose if it's around Halloween, for example, and you're at a haunted house, you

could say “when,” in this case.

But if you're in a regular situation and someone wants to warn you of something, it sounds

a bit strange to say, “When you hear screaming, don't worry.”

But, maybe, “if” is a better choice here.

“If you hear screaming, don't worry,” maybe your friend, for example, is making

a crazy video outside and they're going to shout a lot, for example.

So, there's a chance you may hear screaming.

This one is probably better for “If you hear.”

Of course, in some cases, like I said, in a haunted house situation, maybe you could

use the word “when,” “When you hear screaming, don't worry.”

But, in most cases, “if” is probably a better choice here.

Let's look at another one.

“Let's get a beer blah, blah, blah, the plane lands.”

So, this sentence, the nuance here is the speaker is on a plane, riding on a plane in

the air right now because I have the verb, “lands.”

“Lands” means to touch the land, to stop flying.

So, here, “Let's get a beer,” “if” or “when.”

“If” sounds like there's only a chance the plane is going to land.

“When” sounds like there's a 100% chance the plane is going to land.

So, it's probably a better choice to use “when” here.

We know the plane is going to land.

Unless it's an extreme case like a plane crash, hopefully, not.

But, “Let's get a beer when the plane lands,” is a better choice for this sentence.

Okay, next one.

“Blah, blah, blah he gets fired for this, he's going to be in trouble.”

So, if we use “when” here.

By the way, “fired” means lose your job.

So, “When he gets fired for this,” sounds like the speaker knows, he, this person, is

going to lose his job here.

However, if we use “if,” sounds like there's only a chance or the speaker does not know

whether or not he is going to lose his job.

So, “if” is probably a better choice here.

Of course, if the speaker somehow knows information, they could use the word “when,” in this

case, but, it's probably better to use “if” to show there's only a chance that this person

could get fired for this situation.

Okay.

Let's look at one more.

“She said she would text me, ‘when’ or ‘if’ she had time to get together.”

This is a situation where both “if” and “when” are possible.

So, we can use “if” and we can use “when” here.

The nuance, though, “She will text me if she has time,” so, “if she has time,”

means there's only a chance.

“She has time,” in other words.

If we use “when,” “she” in this sentence, she expects she is going to have time in the

future.

“She said she would text me when she had time,” meaning she expects to have time

and she's going to text the listener.

If, however, the sentence is “if,” “She said she would text me if she had time,”

means “she,” in the sentence, this person, she says, “she” means there's only a chance

she'll have time.

So, please be careful.

Sometimes, both “if” and “when” are correct but the nuance is a little bit different.

So, please keep sentences like these in mind.

Sometimes, especially in a sentence like the first example we looked at, we can potentially

really, really damage relationships if we make a mistake between “if” and “when.”

So, please consider this.

If you have any questions, though, or if you want to try to make an example sentence, please

do so in the comment section below this video.

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