Breakdown of Wenn ich ein Wort nicht wusste, habe ich es im Lexikon nachgeschlagen.
ich
I
ein
a, an (eine)
es
it
haben
to have
nicht
not
wissen
to know (a fact)
im
in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem)
wenn
if / when (conditional, not a question word)
das Wort
the word
das Lexikon
the encyclopedia
nachschlagen
to look up
Questions & Answers about Wenn ich ein Wort nicht wusste, habe ich es im Lexikon nachgeschlagen.
Why is wenn used here for a past event instead of als?
In German, als is used for a single, one-time event in the past. Here, wenn translates closer to 'whenever' or 'every time'. It shows that this was a repeated or habitual action in the past: every single time you didn't know a word, you looked it up.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with habe rather than ich?
This is the verb-second rule in action. The entire first clause (Wenn ich ein Wort nicht wusste) counts as the first position of the sentence. Therefore, the conjugated verb of the main clause (habe) must immediately follow the comma to take the second position.
Why does the sentence use the simple past (wusste) in the first half, but the present perfect (habe ... nachgeschlagen) in the second half?
It is very common in spoken German to mix the simple past for certain foundational verbs with the present perfect for action verbs. wissen (to know) is one of those verbs that sounds much more natural in its simple past form (wusste) than in its present perfect form (habe gewusst).
Why is the past participle nachgeschlagen instead of genachschlagen?
The verb is nachschlagen (to look up), which is a separable verb. When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the -ge- goes between the separable prefix (nach-) and the root verb (schlagen), resulting in nachgeschlagen.
What does es refer to in the second half of the sentence?
The pronoun es refers back to ein Wort (a word). Since Wort is a neuter noun in German (das Wort), you must use the neuter pronoun es to say that you looked 'it' up.
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