When "Wie" means "When"

RexV

RexV

Hi there,

 

I have seen this sentence in a book with German sentences translated to English.

 

"Die Enttäuschung war groß, wie die Mannschaft verloren hat"

 

In the book the sentence was translated to the following:

"The disappointment was huge when the team lost"

 

I have a suspicion that the sentence has been incorrectly translated, as I assume it would have been more correct to use “wann” instead of “wie”. 

 

Am I right or wrong?

Julia-Rocket-German-Tutor

Julia-Rocket-German-Tutor

Hallo RexV!

 

You are on the right track! But instead of using wann, als would be a better fit here, so:

 

"Die Enttäuschung war groß, als die Mannschaft verloren hat" - "The disappointment was huge when the team lost". 

 

Wann tends to be used as a question word, e.g. “Wann war das Spiel?” - “When was the game?” while als is used as a conjunction when talking about something that happened the past tense. 

 

Also keep in mind that als can also mean “as” or “than”, for example,

“Ich arbeite als Fotograf.” - “I work as a photographer.”

“Er ist größer als sie.” - “He is taller than her.”

 

Hope this helps!

 

Viele Grüße,

Julia

RexV

RexV

Excellent, thanks.

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