No. 348 in German
sowohl
"As well as" or "both."
In a sentence
Ich habe sowohl einen Hund als auch eine Katze.
I have both a dog and a cat.
Here, 'sowohl' is used in a correlative conjunction structure, 'sowohl... als auch...', to introduce two parallel subjects.
Er spricht sowohl Englisch als auch Französisch fließend.
He speaks both English and French fluently.
In this sentence, 'sowohl' pairs with 'als auch' to emphasize that the individual is fluent in two languages.
Wir können sowohl ins Kino gehen als auch zu Hause bleiben und einen Film schauen.
We can either go to the cinema or stay home and watch a movie.
This example uses 'sowohl... als auch...' to propose two possible activities, showing the flexibility in the suggested plans.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “sowohl” in actual German podcasts.
Find “sowohl” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays German podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
Learning English?
LangTurbo plays real English podcasts with every line translated into Deutsch, and tells you what any word means in that sentence. For iPhone, iPad and Android.
German books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).