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When + gerund

Hello, would you help me?

Do these two sentences mean the same?


  1. When I was going home I ran into your brother
  2. When going home I ran into your brother

If that is so. What is the difference if there is any.

Thanks in advance
To me, they mean slightly different things.

In the first sentence you are referring to one specific time that you were going home. 'When I was going home (yesterday) . . .', or 'last week, when I was going home . . . '

In the second you are saying that you met my brother every time you were going home. 'When going home I (would always) run into your brother', or 'When going home I (used to) run into your brother'.
So If I've understood properly, When going home is something like On my way home

· During the last week, when going home I used to meet your brother
· During the last week, on my way home I used to meet your brother

is it right?
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Yes, I think so. Both would sound more natural if you omitted 'During the'.

'Last week, when going home, I used to(or 'would') meet your brother.'

The second sentence sounds better inverted: 'I used to meet your brother on my way home last week.' I don't know why. 👁 Confused :confused:
yes, I think I I understand. It might be because in English you usually start a sentence with the subject followed by the verb. When it is happening the event it is usally placed the last.

I don't know whether this is right or not. But on the whole I think I understand the meaning.

thank you
I’m not sure that I agree with heypresto; both are the same, all that has happened is that “I was” has been missed out of the second sentence#:

“When going into town I saw Sean Connery and when coming back home I saw the Prime Minister” gives no indication of any repetitive action.

‘When’ is an overused word, and its cousin, ‘whenever’ is underused:

“Whenever going into town I saw* Sean Connery and whenever coming back home I saw* the Prime Minister” is the repetitive form.

# as you are Spanish, I assume you will be used to the subject being omitted in verbs. 👁 Smile :)

*colloquially, the simple past is used but it would be better as “would see”.
I have always thought that whenever had to be followed by a clause. So, is it possible to use a gerund after it?

Whenever I go out I always forget my keys

Whenever going out I always forget my keys
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I have always thought that whenever had to followed by a clause. So, is it possible to use a gerund after it?
Do you know? I'd never thought about it until you mentioned it - you're correct; a clause should follow 'whenever'. 👁 Thumbs Up :thumbsup:


This said, it probably confirms that the repetitive action is described by whenever, and the one-off by when, although too often English uses 'when' to indicate both.
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