Questions & Answers about Auch das alte Bett war mit Staub und Moos bedeckt.
Why does this sentence use war ... bedeckt instead of wurde ... bedeckt?
This is the stative passive (Zustandspassiv) in the past tense. It uses war (was) plus the past participle bedeckt to describe a state or condition that already existed. If the sentence used wurde, it would be the dynamic passive (Vorgangspassiv), meaning the action of covering the bed was happening at that specific moment in the past.
What case do Staub and Moos take after the preposition mit?
They are in the dative case because the preposition mit always forces the following noun into the dative. We do not see any special case endings here because these are uncountable nouns used without articles, but grammatically they are still in the dative case.
Why is the adjective ending in das alte Bett just -e rather than -es for a neuter noun?
Because the definite article das already clearly shows the gender and case. When the article does the heavy lifting, the adjective takes a weak ending. For nominative singular nouns following a definite article, that weak ending is simply -e. If there were no article, the strong ending would be required, resulting in altes Bett.
Why is the past participle bedeckt placed at the very end of the sentence?