wanna speak real English from your first
lesson sign up for your free lifetime
account at English class 101.com
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 so 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 if 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 so 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 so 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 percent
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 example
sentences that I've actually seen some
that are similar to these so 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 all right so first sentence
blah blah blah we break up what are you
going to do so if you don't know the
word breakup means to end a romantic
relationship to to breakup 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%
certain 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 maybe serious sentence anyway but
using if shows there's only a chance of
a breakup when shows it's 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
listeners 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 it sounds like the
speaker has some secret plan maybe when
your wallet gets stolen sounds like
maybe the speaker has maybe made plans
or knows mysteriously somehow that the
listeners 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
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 like 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 so this one is
probably better for if you hear of
course in some cases like I said in like
a haunted house situation maybe you
could use the word when when you hear
screaming don't worry but in most cases
if it's probably a better choice here
let's look at another one let's get a
beer blah blah blah a plain land 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 percent 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 hmm
so if we use when here by the way fired
means lose your job 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 win 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 when she
had time so 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 so
times especially in a sentence like the
first example we looked at we can
potentially like 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 thanks very
much for watching this video if you
liked it please make sure to give it a
thumbs up and subscribe to our channel
to check us out at English class 101.com
for more stuff as well thanks very much
for watching and we'll see you again
soon
[Music]