Toen - When

The subordinating conjunction toen expresses a temporal relation in the past . It is used when the two events described more or less coincided, or the event in the main clause followed immediately on the event in the subordinate clause. Note that by the nature of its meaning toen always requires a past form of the verb.

Ik at altijd in restaurants toen ik nog geld had.

I always ate in restaurants when I still had money.


Toen ik klein was, haatte ik mijn zus.

When I was little I hated my sister.

Like als and wanneer, toen expresses a temporal relation. However, als and wanneer are used to express current or future events.

When describing a habit from the past, Dutch does not use toen but als or wanneer:

Vroeger ging ik altijd in bad als ik thuiskwam van voetbal.

I always used take a bath whenever I came home from football.