-when clauses

Question

Hello everyone!There are 2 sentences:1) I don't know if she will come or not.2) I don't know when we will see each other again.Well, the first sentence is not an -if clause, that's why "will". But I've got confused with the second. It is certainly not conditional but still, there we have "when". Do we consider any clause with "when" as a -when clause (and for that reason we do not use future after "when")? Or it's different in certain cases. I feel that there is such a simple answer here that it's almost killing me. =)

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

??????? ??????I feel that there is such a simple answer here that it's almost killing me.

Yes, it's simple. Well, I think so, anyway.

Expressions like "I don't know" take an interrogative content clause as their complement.

Although if and when clauses virtually never contain "will" or "would" in a subordinate adverbial clause*, "will" and "would" are completely acceptable in interrogative content clauses.

Other ways of denoting "interrogative content clause" are "embedded question", "embedded clause", and "indirect question".

When you will get to New York, call me.  Wrong.
When you get to New York, call me. Right.
No one can guess when you will get to New York.  Right.

If my wife will be late tonight, I'll feed the dog. Wrong.
If my wife is late tonight, I'll feed the dog. Right.
I can't remember if my wife will be late tonight.  Right.

For more on indirect questions, see

CJ

*There are some relatively rare exceptions, but these are irrelevant in the current discussion.

-when clauses

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