Breakdown of Die Kreditkarte hatte nicht funktioniert, und alles war schiefgegangen.
sein
to be
und
and
haben
to have
nicht
not
funktionieren
to work (function)
alles
everything
schiefgehen
to go wrong
die Kreditkarte
the credit card
Questions & Answers about Die Kreditkarte hatte nicht funktioniert, und alles war schiefgegangen.
Why does this sentence use hatte in the first half but war in the second half?
Just like the regular spoken past tense (Perfekt), the Past Perfect (Plusquamperfekt) needs a helping verb. Most verbs take a form of haben (like hatte funktioniert). However, verbs that show a change of state or motion take a form of sein. Since schiefgehen (to go wrong) implies a change of state or metaphorical motion, it uses war (war schiefgegangen).
How do we get the form schiefgegangen?
The infinitive is schiefgehen (to go wrong), which is a separable verb made of schief (crooked or skewed) and gehen (to go). When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- goes between the prefix and the main verb. The past participle of gehen is gegangen, so you just stick schief on the front to get schiefgegangen.
Why isn't war at the very end of the sentence?
The word und is a coordinating conjunction, which means it simply links two independent main clauses without affecting the word order. In a main clause, the conjugated verb (here, war) must be in the second position. The word alles (everything) takes up the first position of the second clause, so war goes exactly in position two. The past participle schiefgegangen then gets pushed to the end of the clause.
Can I use a form of arbeiten instead of funktionieren to say the card had not worked?
No, in German there is a strict difference between these two words. You use arbeiten when a person or animal is doing labor or a job. When a machine, system, or object (like a credit card) successfully operates or does what it is supposed to do, you must use funktionieren.
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