Breakdown of Mein bisheriger Beruf war sehr stressig, weswegen ich gekündigt habe.
ich
I
sein
to be
sehr
very
haben
to have
mein
my
kündigen
to resign / to fire / to cancel (a contract/subscription)
der Beruf
the profession
bisherig
previous
stressig
stressful
weswegen
which is why
Questions & Answers about Mein bisheriger Beruf war sehr stressig, weswegen ich gekündigt habe.
What exactly does weswegen refer to here, and how does it affect the sentence structure?
weswegen means 'which is why' or 'because of which'. Instead of referring back to a single noun, it acts as a relative connector referring to the entire situation in the first clause (the job being stressful). It introduces a subordinate clause, which kicks the conjugated verb (habe) to the very end of the sentence.
Could I use weshalb or deshalb instead of weswegen?
You can absolutely use weshalb here; it is completely interchangeable with weswegen and also sends the verb to the end. However, if you use deshalb (therefore), you are starting a regular main clause, so the verb would come in the second position right after it: ..., deshalb habe ich gekündigt.
I learned bisher as an adverb meaning 'until now'. How does it become the adjective bisheriger here?
German often turns adverbs of time into adjectives by adding the suffix -ig. Here, bisher becomes bisherig- (previous or former). Because it follows the uninflected possessive article mein and modifies the masculine nominative noun Beruf, it takes the strong ending -er.
Why isn't there an object after gekündigt habe? How do we know who fired whom?
The verb kündigen can be used without an object to mean 'to quit' or 'to resign'. When the employee is the subject (ich habe gekündigt), it simply means 'I quit'. If the employer is the subject, they fire someone by using the dative case, for example: Mein Chef hat mir gekündigt (My boss fired me).
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