Breakdown of Sie wollte geradeaus fahren, aber an der neuen Ampel musste sie warten.
sie
she
aber
but
neu
new
fahren
to drive, to travel
wollen
to want
müssen
to have to, must
warten
to wait
an
at, on (vertical) / to (addressee) / of (in quantity/stock expressions)
die Ampel
the traffic light
geradeaus
straight ahead
Questions & Answers about Sie wollte geradeaus fahren, aber an der neuen Ampel musste sie warten.
Why is it der neuen Ampel if Ampel is a feminine noun?
Because of the preposition an, which here describes a fixed location ("where?") and therefore takes the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der. When you use a definite article in the dative case, any adjective following it always gets the ending -en, which is why we say neuen.
Could I use the accusative case after an here?
Not in this context. The word an is a two-way preposition. It takes the accusative when showing movement towards a destination (answering "where to?"), but it takes the dative when describing a fixed location (answering "where?"). Since she was waiting at a specific spot rather than moving to it, we use the dative.
Why is the verb musste before the subject sie in the second part of the sentence?
The conjunction aber (but) takes "position zero", meaning it does not count towards the word order. The first position in the second clause is the entire phrase an der neuen Ampel. Because the conjugated verb must always take the second position in a German main clause, musste comes immediately after that phrase, pushing the subject sie to the third position.
Why do we use wollte and musste here instead of the spoken past forms?
These are the simple past forms of the modal verbs wollen (to want) and müssen (to have to). In German, it is much more natural and common to use the simple past tense for modal verbs, even in casual spoken language where you would normally use the spoken past (Perfekt) for regular action verbs.
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