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In my native languge we have two forms of any verb either finished (simple form) and the other option ongoing (continuous form). We could say it is similar to English but not quite. For example let's make a sentence with an ongoing form of a verb "When I was sleeping he broke in". So far things work the same in my mother tongue. Now, let's make a sentence with a finished form of a verb "When I slept he broke in". You see in English it still means the same thing as the previous sentence so he broke during the sleep. In my lanuage because I used the finished form it would mean he broke after my sleep once I was awake. I'd like to ask you how to deal with that. Many things depend on context I'm sure. I imagine writng

  1. When I fixed his car he helped him- I believe it means help came during fixing, right?( in my language it would only mean after)

  2. When I fixed his car he payed me- here after fixing money came ( same way with my language)

What I think is at least some verbs in English may imply different things like "fix" here either during or after depending on context. Does it work the same with every verb or do we have some rules? For instance could I write this?

  1. When I slept I went to ther party- meaning after I got some rest I went partying after sleeping.

If you tell me 3 is wrong and I need to use either past perfect or add the verb "finish" why 1 and 2 are fine? Give me your thoughts please. I know we have other conjunctions but I wanna focus on "when". I don't except you to refer strictly to my examples, just if you see my problem try to give some tips.

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  • Which is your native language? I am asking because what you said isn't applicable in English, French, German Italian or Spanish. "When I slept he broke in". You see in English it still means the same thing as the previous sentence so he broke during the sleep. In my lanuage because I used the finished form it would mean he broke after my sleep once I was awake.
    – James Mathai
    Commented Nov 16 at 0:15

2 Answers 2

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In English to indicate completion you can use perfect tenses. You should also use an appropriate adverb. Often that isn't "when". (also note spelling of "paid")

You are wrong to "focus on when", because using when is precisely the mistake.

  1. After I'd fixed his car, he paid me.

You can do the same with 3.

  1. After I'd slept, I went to the party.

But it might be more natural to phrase with "When I'd woken up..."

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  • What is the rule? Is there any or is everything context dependent? for instance "When I drove home I saw a lady on the street" this means during my drive. "When I drove home I took a shower and went to sleep" Does it change the meaning to after my drive because of context? I think it does but how do feel about that? Is it akward, unidiomatic or just trash?
    – marta
    Commented Nov 15 at 11:03
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    @marta There are few rules, we figure it out using context and common sense. And we avoid ambiguity by rewording with more details, e.g. use "after" instead of "when"
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 15 at 17:32
  • @Barmar so for instance "When I watch Tv she visits me" means during watching and "When I watch Tv I will drive to pick her from the airport" would imply after watching? Would my 2 example be natural?
    – marta
    Commented Nov 15 at 18:20
  • You wouldn't say the second one at all. "when I watch TV" either means "while I watch TV" or "after I start watching TV". You wouldn't use it to mean "after I stop watching TV".
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 15 at 18:22
  • so context isn't enought, I need to use proper tenses for instance When I had watched or when I finished watching right?
    – marta
    Commented Nov 15 at 18:24
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"When I fixed his car he paid me" could be a valid sentence, but it suggests to me "When I repaired his car (on some previous occasion), I did indeed receive payment for it".

I think you mean to describe a simple sequence of events (I repaired the car and then he paid me). In that case it would be appropriate to use the past perfect.

When I had fixed his car, he paid me.

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  • How would you understand 3? Does it make sense if not why 2 does?
    – marta
    Commented Nov 15 at 11:01
  • What is the rule? Is there any or is everything context dependent? for instance "When I drove home I saw a lady on the street" this means during my drive. "When I drove home I took a shower and went to sleep" Does it change the meaning to after my drive because of context? I think it does but how do feel about that? Is it akward, unidiomatic or just trash?
    – marta
    Commented Nov 15 at 11:04
  • Example 3 is odd (did you sleepwalk to the party?). Much more natural to say something like After I'd slept for an hour or When I'd had a sleep. When I drove home I took a shower sounds odd too; a native speaker would say When I got home or I drove home and took a shower (common sense indicates that you did one afyter the other).
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Nov 15 at 11:30
  • that being said, would you consider my example 2 a little odd two? Can I sum it up by saying that when a verb implies some action that takes a lot of time it is better to use past perfect yet sometimes common sense and context will do the job yet it still will be akward?
    – marta
    Commented Nov 15 at 12:11
  • Contributors to this forum often say 'Don't use the past perfect unless you have to', but in this case, if you want to say that the second action happened after the first action was finished, I think the past perfect is justified.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Nov 15 at 17:01

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