Breakdown of Während er den Witz erzählt hat, haben sie ihn ausgebuht, worüber er sich geärgert hat.
er
he
haben
to have
sie
they
ihn
him
erzählen
to tell
sich ärgern
to be annoyed / to be angry
worüber
what about
während
while
der Witz
the joke
ausbuhen
to boo
Questions & Answers about Während er den Witz erzählt hat, haben sie ihn ausgebuht, worüber er sich geärgert hat.
Why do we use worüber here instead of a normal relative pronoun like das?
This is a continuative relative clause. The word worüber does not refer to a single noun in the sentence; it refers to the entire preceding action (the fact that they booed him). Because the verb sich ärgern (to be annoyed) requires the preposition über, we combine wo + r + über to point back to that whole event.
Could I say über was instead of worüber?
In casual spoken German, you will sometimes hear people say über was, but worüber is the grammatically correct standard. Whenever a prepositional object refers back to a whole clause or an undefined concept rather than a specific noun, you should use a wo- compound.
Why does the middle clause start with the verb haben instead of the subject sie?
The entire first clause (Während er den Witz erzählt hat) takes up position 1 of the overall sentence. Because German strictly requires the conjugated verb in position 2, haben must come immediately after the comma, pushing the subject sie to position 3.
I see ausgebuht at the end of the main clause. How is this verb formed?
It comes from the separable verb ausbuhen (to boo someone). To form the past participle for the Perfekt tense, the prefix aus- splits from the verb, and the standard -ge- is inserted in the middle, giving us ausgebuht.
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