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German frequency list

No. 63 in German

dabei

"Dabei" means "present," "involved," "with it," or "there" depending on the context.

In a sentence

  • Ich war bei der Feier und hatte dabei viel Spaß.

    I was at the party and had a lot of fun.

    In this sentence, 'dabei' emphasizes simultaneous participation or involvement associated with the event described, which is 'bei der Feier'.

  • Er hat den Vertrag gelesen, dabei hat er viele Fehler gefunden.

    He read the contract, during which he found many mistakes.

    Here, 'dabei' highlights the event that occurred in connection with or during another action, in this case, 'lesen'.

  • Sie wollte zu Hause bleiben, aber die Freunde waren dagegen, und schließlich war sie doch dabei.

    She wanted to stay at home, but her friends were against it, and in the end, she joined.

    In this context, 'dabei' refers to active participation in the group activity denoted by the previous discourse.

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