WordWide
German

Meanings

  1. Introduces a comitative sentence, denoting a simultaneous event with the main clause. It frequently corresponds to English present participles (-ing) in adverbial use.

    "Nein, bitte nicht", wehrte Bernie schnell ab, wobei er zugleich seine Rechte über das Glas hielt."No, please don't," Bernie quickly defended himself, holding his right hand over the glass at the same time.

  2. Interrogative and relative adverbs: by what, about what

    Wobei ist er gestört worden?What was he disturbed by?

  3. colloquialSometimes with verb in the second position. With concessive meaning when main and subordinate clauses are semantically incompatible.

    Er lacht nie, wobei er seine Zähne wirklich nicht verstecken muss.He never laughs, although he really doesn't have to hide his teeth.

  4. whereas; whereat; whereupon; at which; in doing so; in which

    Er reparierte das Fahrrad, wobei er sich an der Hand verletzte.He was fixing the bike and hurt his hand in doing so.

Examples

GermanEnglish
Wobei ist der Fehler aufgetreten?When did the error occur?
Wobei hast du mich sonst noch belogen?What else have you lied to me about?
8 more examples
Wobei soll ich dir denn helfen?What do you want me to help you with?
Ich bin Moslem, wobei ich davor Christ war.I'm Muslim and Christianity is my previous faith.
Ich bin Moslime, wobei ich davor Christin war.I'm Muslim and Christianity is my previous faith.
Das, wobei unsere Berechnungen versagen, nennen wir Zufall.We have given the failure of our calculations the title of "chance".
Tom fiel auf die Nase, wobei ihm die Brille zu Bruch ging.Tom fell flat on his face and broke his glasses.
Es fällt mir schwer, etwas zu machen, wobei mir die Motivation fehlt.It's hard for me to do things I'm not motivated to do.
Ich sah ihn durch die Stadt spazieren, wobei er seinen Sonntagsstaat trug.I saw him walking around town wearing his Sunday best.
Meist redete er unaufhörlich, wobei er eine Zigarette nach der anderen rauchte.Most often he talked and talked while smoking one cigarette after another.