Adverbs of simultaneity (inzwischen, währenddessen)

Meanwhile in the Studio...

When directing a chaotic live television broadcast, things rarely go according to plan. You will often need to describe two events happening at the exact same time. One way to do this is with the temporal adverb inzwischen (meanwhile).

Whenever you start a sentence with an adverb in German, it occupies Position 1. Because German requires the conjugated verb to sit in Position 2, the verb must come immediately after the adverb. The subject will then follow the verb.

At the Same Time: gleichzeitig

To emphasize that events are happening concurrently, use gleichzeitig (at the same time).

When combining two independent clauses, you will frequently see adverbs paired with coordinating conjunctions like und (and) or aber (but). Because these conjunctions sit in "Position 0" outside the clause structure, they do not affect word order. If gleichzeitig directly follows und or aber, it is in Position 1, meaning the verb still comes next.

In the Meantime: währenddessen

A common alternative to inzwischen is währenddessen (in the meantime). It has the exact same grammatical function and follows the exact same word order rules. Place it at the front of the sentence and let the verb follow immediately in Position 2.