sowie (as well as, and)

Meaning

sowie is a coordinating conjunction (nebenordnende Konjunktion) that means "as well as" or "and also". It joins words, phrases, or whole clauses and adds one more item to a list. In this additive use it works almost exactly like und, but it sounds a little more formal and is very common in written, official, or business German. It is typically used to attach the last element of a longer enumeration: A, B sowie C.

How it behaves grammatically

• It is coordinating, so it does not change word order and it does not send the finite verb to the end. The elements on both sides keep whatever case the sentence already requires - a nominative stays nominative, an accusative stays accusative, and so on. "sowie" itself governs no case.
• No comma is placed before additive sowie, exactly as with und: Kaffee, Tee sowie Saft (not Kaffee, Tee, sowie Saft).
• When it links two singular subjects, the verb is normally plural: Das Frühstück sowie der Eintritt sind im Preis enthalten.

A second, more formal meaning

In literary or formal style, sowie can also be a subordinating conjunction meaning "as soon as" (= sobald). Then it opens a subordinate clause and the finite verb goes to the end: Sowie ich fertig bin, rufe ich dich an. For everyday B1 use, prefer sobald for "as soon as" and keep sowie for "as well as".

Common mistake

Do not put a comma before the additive sowie - it behaves like und. Also do not confuse the single word sowie ("as well as") with the two words so wie ("just as / the way"): So wie du es machst, mache ich es auch.

"sowie" is a coordinating conjunction meaning "as well as" - it adds an item to a list like a slightly more formal "und" and takes no comma in front of it.

"sowie" is a coordinating conjunction meaning "as well as". It joins words, phrases, or clauses without changing word order, and it takes no comma in front of it (just like "und"). Watch out: written as two separate words, "so wie" instead means "just as / the way".

"sowie" ist eine nebenordnende Konjunktion mit der Bedeutung "und auch"; sie reiht wie "und" Wörter, Satzteile oder Sätze auf und steht ohne Komma davor.