Dramatic Sequencing with kaum ... als
When telling a fast-paced or suspenseful story—like wild animals suddenly appearing on a safari—you can use the structure kaum ..., als ... (hardly ... when ...).
Because the first clause starts with the adverb kaum, it triggers subject-verb inversion: the conjugated verb must take the second position, pushing the subject to the third position. This clause is typically in the Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt), meaning you will use hatte or war right after kaum to show an action had just finished.
The second clause begins with als (when). Because als is a subordinating conjunction, it sends its conjugated verb to the very end of the sentence.
| Hardly had we begun the safari, when a lion roared. | Kaum hatten wir die Safari begonnen, als ein Löwe brüllte. |
| Hardly had we looked into the bushes, when the hidden giraffe appeared. | Kaum hatten wir in das Gebüsch geschaut, als die versteckte Giraffe auftauchte. |
Using da instead of als
You can also use the word da (at that moment) to introduce the second, interrupting action: kaum ..., da ....
Grammatically, da behaves differently than als. It is an adverb, not a subordinating conjunction. Since da takes up the first position of the second clause, it triggers another subject-verb inversion! The conjugated verb must come immediately after da.
| Hardly had the off-road vehicle stopped, when a zebra ran past. | Kaum hatte der Geländewagen gehalten, da rannte ein Zebra vorbei. |
Just like in the regular conversational past tense, remember that verbs of motion require a form of sein (in this case, war) instead of haben for their Past Perfect form:
| Hardly had the cheetah jumped out of the bushes, when the herd fled. | Kaum war der Gepard aus dem Gebüsch gesprungen, da floh die Herde. |
Standard Sequencing with nachdem
If you want to state that one event happened after another without the dramatic "hardly... when" urgency, you can simply use nachdem (after). Like als, nachdem is a subordinating conjunction that pushes the conjugated verb to the end of its clause.
| After we had parked the off-road vehicle, we saw the rhinoceros. | Nachdem wir den Geländewagen geparkt hatten, sahen wir das Nashorn. |