Breakdown of Welches Problem wurde durch die Verspätung verursacht?
das Problem
the problem
die Verspätung
the delay
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
durch
through
welcher
which (welcher, welche, welches, welchen, welchem...)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
verursachen
to cause
Questions & Answers about Welches Problem wurde durch die Verspätung verursacht?
Why does this sentence use durch for "by" instead of von?
In German passive sentences, von is typically used for the active agent—usually a person or organization that intentionally performs the action. durch is used for the means, instrument, or cause of the action, often an inanimate object or event. Because die Verspätung (the delay) is an event that caused the problem rather than a person acting intentionally, durch is the correct choice.
Does durch change the case of die Verspätung?
Yes, but it happens to look the same! The preposition durch always requires the accusative case. Because Verspätung is a feminine noun, its accusative article is die (exactly the same as its nominative form). If the sentence had used von, you would have needed the dative case (von der Verspätung).
Why is the question word welches and not just welche?
The word welch- (which) has to match the gender and case of the noun it belongs to. Problem is a neuter noun (das Problem), and in this passive sentence, it is the subject (nominative case). The neuter nominative ending for welch- is -es, making it welches Problem.
Why do we use wurde instead of war to mean "was"?
This sentence is in the regular passive voice (the "process passive"), describing an action that took place. German builds this passive using the helping verb werden plus the past participle (verursacht). Since this happened in the past, we use the simple past tense of werden, which is wurde. Using war would create a "state passive," focusing only on the result rather than the event of the problem being caused.
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