The question "When are you in Berlin?" sounds, somehow, strange to me and informal. Is it OK to ask this way in a business environment or is there a better way?


What do you mean to ask?

When are you in Berlin?

This carries a little of the connotation that the person being questioned either has regularly scheduled visits to Berlin (response: "Every April and May") or has a longer itinerary already planned out, in which Berlin is a stop. (response: "After Holland and Zurich, but before Warsaw and Nagurskoye.")

If you are asking someone who is going to Berlin as a one off event, and not in the context of a longer trip, either When will you be in Berlin? or When are you going to Berlin? are more common. (AmE, West Coast)

| improve this answer | |
  • When are you in Berlin? can quite naturally refer to a one-off event in the right context. – tunny Nov 19 '14 at 19:39

When will you be in Berlin? is an alternative, but I see nothing wrong with When are you in Berlin? There is nothing informal about it.

| improve this answer | |

Your Answer

