Breakdown of Der Besitzer hatte keine Angst, stattdessen war er völlig ruhig.
sein
to be
er
he
haben
to have
kein
no, not any
die Angst
the fear
ruhig
quiet, calm
der Besitzer
the owner
stattdessen
instead
völlig
completely
Questions & Answers about Der Besitzer hatte keine Angst, stattdessen war er völlig ruhig.
Why does the German sentence use hatte keine Angst to mean "was not afraid"?
In German, fear is expressed as a noun that you have, not an adjective that you are. You use the noun Angst with the verb haben. Therefore, "was afraid" becomes hatte Angst (literally: had fear) in the simple past (Präteritum).
Why is the phrase negated with keine instead of nicht?
Because Angst is a noun. In German, you negate a noun that lacks a definite article by using a form of kein. You would only use nicht if you were negating an adjective, such as er war nicht ängstlich (he was not fearful).
Why is the verb war placed before the subject er in the second half of the sentence?
The word stattdessen (instead) is an adverb. Because it occupies the first position in the second clause, the verb war must take its strict second position. This pushes the subject er to the third position. If stattdessen were a true coordinating conjunction like aber, the subject would come first.
Could I use ganz instead of völlig in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely. Both völlig and ganz function here as adverbs meaning "completely" or "entirely". Saying ganz ruhig instead of völlig ruhig would carry the exact same meaning and also sounds very natural.
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