Breakdown of Obwohl es kalt war, haben wir vor der Telefonzelle gewartet, wenn jemand telefoniert hat.
sein
to be
es
it
haben
to have
wir
we
kalt
cold
warten
to wait
vor
in front of
jemand
someone
wenn
if / when (conditional, not a question word)
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
obwohl
although
telefonieren
to be on the phone, to talk on the phone
die Telefonzelle
the telephone booth
Questions & Answers about Obwohl es kalt war, haben wir vor der Telefonzelle gewartet, wenn jemand telefoniert hat.
Why is wenn used here instead of als for a past tense sentence?
Normally, als is used for a single, one-time event in the past. However, wenn is used for events that happened repeatedly or habitually (meaning "whenever"). Because they waited multiple times "whenever" someone was using the phone, we use wenn.
Why does the middle clause start with haben wir instead of wir haben?
The first clause (Obwohl es kalt war) takes up the entire first position of the sentence. Because the conjugated verb in a German main clause must come second, haben is placed immediately after the comma, pushing the subject wir behind it.
Why is it vor der Telefonzelle (dative) rather than vor die Telefonzelle (accusative)?
The word vor is a two-way preposition. It takes the dative case when it describes a stationary location (answering "where?") and the accusative when it describes movement to a new destination (answering "where to?"). Since they are waiting in one spot, it takes the dative, changing the feminine die to der.
Why do war and hat go at the very end of their clauses?
Both obwohl (although) and wenn (when/whenever) are subordinating conjunctions. They introduce dependent clauses, which means they "kick" the conjugated verb to the very end of that specific clause.
The English translation says "we waited." Why does German use haben ... gewartet instead of the simple past?
In spoken and informal German, the Perfekt tense (like haben gewartet) is heavily preferred over the simple past for most actions. The simple past is mostly reserved for certain common verbs like sein (which we see used correctly as war in the first clause) and modal verbs.
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