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Used to indicate a specific time or situation when something happened
Als ich ein Kind war, spielte ich oft im Park.
When I was a child, I often played in the park.
Often used with past tense verbs to describe a past event or condition.
Used to compare two things or situations, similar to 'like' or 'as' in English
Er ist so schnell wie ein Hase.
He is as fast as a hare.
In this sense, 'als' is often used with 'wie' to form comparisons.
Pay attention to the context to distinguish between 'als' as a temporal conjunction and its comparative use.
From Middle High German 'als', from Old High German 'als', from Proto-Germanic 'alþiz'.
'Als' can sometimes be omitted in informal speech, especially in subordinate clauses.