Breakdown of Der alte Bauer hat gesagt, dass das Schloss verflucht war.
sein
to be
haben
to have
sagen
to say
alt
old
das Schloss
the castle
dass
that
der Bauer
the farmer
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
verfluchen
to curse
Questions & Answers about Der alte Bauer hat gesagt, dass das Schloss verflucht war.
Why is it verflucht war instead of verflucht wurde?
This is the stative passive (Zustandspassiv) in the simple past. It uses war (the past tense of sein) plus the past participle verflucht to describe a condition that already existed. It means the castle was in a cursed state. If the farmer had used wurde verflucht (the action or dynamic passive), it would mean the action was happening right then: the castle was being cursed by someone.
Why is war at the very end of the sentence?
The word dass (that) is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a dependent clause. In German dependent clauses, the conjugated verb is always kicked to the very end. Since war is the conjugated verb for the castle, it must go after the past participle verflucht.
Why does the adjective in Der alte Bauer end in -e instead of -er?
Because it follows the definite article Der, the adjective takes a weak ending. The masculine gender is already clearly shown by the article Der, so the adjective only needs a simple -e in the nominative case.
I thought Bauer was an n-declension noun. Shouldn't it have an -n at the end?
You are right that Bauer is a weak noun (part of the n-declension group). However, these nouns only add the extra -n in the accusative, dative, and genitive cases. Because the farmer is the one doing the speaking here, he is the subject (nominative), so the word stays as Bauer.
What is the difference between fluchen and verfluchen?
The base verb fluchen usually means to swear or use bad words. When you add the prefix ver-, it changes the meaning to a destructive action directed at a target. verfluchen means to put a magical curse on someone or something, which gives us the past participle verflucht used in this sentence.
Learn Der alte Bauer hat gesagt, dass das Schloss verflucht war and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free