 Welcome to this video. Today you're going to learn how to use when and while correctly. Of course, I'm Jennifer from jforisenglish.com and this channel is dedicated to helping you sound like a fluent, confident, natural English speaker. Now, before we go any further, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell icon so you're notified every time I post a new lesson. Now, let's dive in with this video. Today, you're going to learn how to use when and while correctly and grammatically correct sentences. Now, when is used to mean at or immediately after a specific point in time? While is used with a duration of time. Now, an easy trick to remember just right off the bat is that when is used with the past simple and while is used with a continuous verb tense, a progressive verb tense. So a verb in ing, generally the past continuous. So that's something that you can easily remember. But let's look at a few examples. We use when with a specific moment in time. So I could say when the phone rang, I was cooking. So the phone rang at a specific moment in time. When the phone rang, I was cooking. Now, I could take the same sentence and just switch the order and use while instead. So here in this sentence, when the phone rang, I was cooking, where's the duration? Where's the action that has a duration to it? A start and a finish, a continuation. It's cooking, right? So I can start my sentence with cooking and then use while because we generally use while with a past continuous. So I could say while I was cooking, the phone rang. Now you might be thinking but a phone rings for a period of time. It starts ringing and then it rings and rings and rings and rings and then it ends ringing. But the thing is when I say the phone rang, I'm not talking about a continuation. I'm changing it to a specific moment. The phone rang at 4.05 p.m., a specific moment. Now if I wanted to talk about a duration of that event, I can absolutely do that. But I would need to change my verb tense to the past continuous. And I could say while the phone was ringing, I was outside. So in this case, I'm using while and I changed the phone rang. I changed the past simple to the past continuous because I want to talk about the duration. I want to talk about the fact that the phone started ringing at 4.05 and continued ringing until 4.07. Okay? So I want to talk about that duration. While the phone was ringing, I was outside. So it is possible that you can change the verb tense if you want to focus on a specific precise moment or if you want to focus on a duration. So keep that in mind. Now another reason why my first example was in the past simple when the phone rang is because we use short duration, we use when, and then we use longer duration with while. So for example, I could say cover your mouth when coughing. Cover your mouth when coughing. Now notice I left the verb in a continuous verb coughing is a continuous verb. However, I'm viewing that as a short duration. So in that case, I can just use when cover your mouth when coughing. But in action with a longer duration, we generally use while. So I could say you should eat healthy while recovering while recovering. So I view a cough as a short duration. And I view the recovery as a longer duration. And I use when with the short duration and while with the long duration. Now keep in mind that this is subjective. So one native speaker might use when and while because how they view a duration as short and long can be different. So sometimes students get really confused when they see when being used with a continuous verb. So just know it is possible and it just depends on the speaker's perspective. And if they view the action as a short duration, you can use when and then a longer duration you can use while. Now the final thing you need to keep in mind is that in English, we have something called state of verbs. So state of verbs are simply states. And we view that there is no action involved in a state of verb. Because of that, there's no continuation. And we don't use while with state of verbs. And that's why I say when I was a kid. Okay, when I was a kid. Now, of course, the period of time when I was a kid is started at a period of time and it continued and continued until a period of time. So there is technically a continuation. But was the verb to be simply in the past is a state of verb. And we don't put that verb in a continuous form. Because of that, we use when when I was a kid. It is not common to say while I was a kid that doesn't sound right to a native speaker. So you can use when with a period of time in your life and a specific age. So I could say when I was 16, even though 16 has a start to it and a finish to it, there's technically a duration. It's a state of verb because we use to be with the age. So when I was a kid, when I was in university, when I was 16, we use when and the past simple. Now non state of verbs, we just refer to as action verbs. So any verb that has an action involved, you can think of an action in terms of a movement. In that case, we can put it in a continuous form and we would use while. So I could say while I was driving, I saw an accident while I was driving. So of course, drive, there's an action involved while I was driving. But let's say I wanted to change the order and I wanted to focus on the verb see or maybe even hear. Well, our senses are state of verbs. So I would say when I saw the accident or when I heard the accident, those are state of verbs and I would use when. When I saw the accident, I was driving. So just remember that your choice of when or while depends on whether or not there's a duration involved. If there's a duration, use while. If it's a short duration, you can use when. If it's a longer duration, use while. If it's a state of verb, use when. And if it's an action verb and you're talking about the duration, use while. And also remember that it is possible to use when with an ing verb. Okay? So now it's your turn to practice. I want you to write two examples with when and two examples with while and leave those in the comments below. If you found this video helpful, please hit the like button, share it with your friends, and of course, subscribe. Now, before you go, make sure you head on over to my website, jforestenglish.com, and download your free speaking guide. In this guide, I share six tips on how to speak English fluently and confidently. And until next time, happy studying. Awesome job getting the hang of when and while. Make sure you do those practice exercises. They'll really help you understand these concepts. And I'll see you in my next video. Bye.