Questions & Answers about Letzte Woche war ich krank.
The lesson is about time prepositions like 'für' and 'seit'. Why isn't there a preposition before 'Letzte Woche'?
When you state a specific, definite time like 'last week' or 'next Tuesday', German often doesn't need a preposition. Instead, the time phrase is just put in the accusative case. Since Woche is a feminine noun (die Woche), the adjective ends in -e, giving us Letzte Woche.
Could I use 'für' here and say 'Für letzte Woche war ich krank'?
No, because für (for) is used to express a duration or length of time, like für eine Woche (for one week). Because 'last week' points to when it happened rather than how long you were sick, you just use the phrase on its own without a preposition.
Why is the verb before the subject, saying 'war ich' instead of 'ich war'?
In a German main sentence, the conjugated verb must always sit in the second position. The time phrase Letzte Woche counts as one block and takes the first position. So, the verb war must come second, pushing the subject ich to the third position.
Why does this sentence use the simple past 'war' instead of the spoken past (Perfekt)?
For most verbs, spoken German uses the spoken past (Perfekt). However, the verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are big exceptions. Germans almost always use their simple past forms (war and hatte) in everyday speech, even when talking casually.
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