(c) More general terms for ‘currently/at present’ are gegenwärtig/zur Zeit (abbreviated
to z.Zt.): as an adjective, gegenwärtig occurs in expressions such as -e gegenwärtige
Finanzlage ‘the current financial situation’:Der Bundeskanzler befindet sich zur Zeit/gegenwärtig in
Washington.
The Federal Chancellor is currently in Washington.Die gegenwärtige polititische Lage in Israel ist äußerst kritisch.
The current political situation in Israel is extremely critical.81.2 A few moments ago
gerade/eben/soeben used with either the simple past or the perfect (see 34.5–6 for
tenses) implies that something has just happened:Tut mir Leid, der Chef ist gerade aus dem Haus gegangen.
Sorry, the boss has just left the building.Eben waren sie noch da; jetzt sind sie weg.
They were here a minute ago, now they’ve gone.vorhin lies a little bit further back in time; it refers to the same afternoon, morning,
etc., but other events may have happened in the meantime.Vorhin habe ich noch daran gedacht; dann kam mir ein Anruf
dazwischen.
I remembered it a little earlier, then a phone call intervened.81.3 Recently
(a) For referring to recent events without specifically giving a date, the following can
be used:vor kurzem ‘a short time ago/the other day’ (implying days, rather than minutes
or hours ago)
kürzlich/neulich ‘recently’Neulich stand in der Zeitung, dass sich Peter verlobt hat.
It was in the paper recently that Peter has got engaged.(b) In order to refer to a specific point in the recent past, the following can be
used:letzten/vorigen Montag/Mittwoch ‘last Monday/Wednesday’
letzte/vorige Woche ‘last week’
vorletzten Dienstag ‘(the) Tuesday before last’81
Providing temporal context