# Offtopic English Lesson: meanwhile and thelike **URL:** \ **Category:** Uncategorized\ **Created:** [February 16, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766 "2026-02-16T19:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Minim](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Minim](https://forum.delta.chat/u/Minim)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/1 "2026-02-16T19:11:18Z")
Great, sounds good! Tiny quibble: “meanwhile“ = ”bis dahin” or “wärenddessen” “meanwhile” != “seitdem” So “meanwhile“ is only sometimes = ”inzwischen” Colloquially, English uses the perfect tense: “In the meantime, the question has been made much clearer“ or “The question has since been made much clearer“. “The question is now much clearer“ is also very colloquial. ---
**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/2 "2026-02-16T20:39:35Z")
interesting, thanks a lot! so, if i understand correctly, it is better and probably more correct to say “in the meantime” when meaning “inzwischen”? ---
**Author:** ![Minim](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Minim](https://forum.delta.chat/u/Minim)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/3 "2026-02-16T22:03:08Z")
Thank you very much for not being offended! All of these are correct, they just have different meanings. There is no one translation of “inswischen” that will work in all contexts. “Meanwhile, the question is clearer” and “In the meantime, the question is clearer” both imply that some future event will make the question less clear again. “In the meantime, the question has been made clearer” does not. But it is a bit wordy and formal; removing the words “In the meantime” doesn’t really change the meaning of the sentence. It would be less formal to use the present tense with “now” (e.g. “The question is now clearer”) or the perfect tense, optionally with “now” for emphasis (e.g. “We’ve [now] made the question clearer”). The simple past (“We made the question clearer”) is also fine. The passive voice (“The question has been made clearer”, “The question has now been clarified” etc.) is also fine. I’ve seen lots of bugfixes with comments like “Fixed!”, too. Sometimes that is all they say. ---
**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/4 "2026-02-16T22:15:55Z")
thanks a lot for these insights! i think i will got for “fixed! we now have …” - i fear i cannot remember all the other details in the long run, i need smth simple that works without thinking much 🙂 we should mark the last posts as offtopic, btw ---
**Author:** ![Minim](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@Minim](https://forum.delta.chat/u/Minim)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2026, 10:25pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/5 "2026-02-16T22:25:58Z")
Way offtopic! I’m not sure how to mark them tho. “Fixed! We now have…” is perfectly colloquial and will not confuse anyone. A lot of native speakers avoid the more complex constuctions because they are confusing. And I misspelt “inzwischen” with two "s"s… 😏 ---
**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2026, 9:39am UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/6 "2026-02-18T09:39:27Z")
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**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:22pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/7 "2026-10-06T16:22:25Z")
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**Author:** ![r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/r10s/32/1513_2.png) [@r10s](https://forum.delta.chat/u/r10s)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/offtopic-english-lesson-meanwhile-and-thelike/4766/8 "2026-10-06T16:24:17Z")