Breakdown of Wir dachten an die Zeit, aber die Tür wäre aufgeschlossen worden.
sein
to be
aber
but
die Zeit
the time
wir
we
die Tür
the door
denken an
to think about
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
werden
to be (passive auxiliary + past participle)
aufschließen
to unlock (e.g. a door with a key)
Questions & Answers about Wir dachten an die Zeit, aber die Tür wäre aufgeschlossen worden.
How does the passive Konjunktiv II past work in wäre aufgeschlossen worden?
It expresses what would have been done in the past (but wasn't). To build it, you use wäre (the Konjunktiv II form of sein) in the second position of the clause, send the past participle of your action verb (aufgeschlossen) to the end, and follow it immediately with the passive auxiliary worden.
Why do we use worden at the end of this sentence instead of geworden?
In passive constructions, the past participle of werden drops the ge- prefix and becomes just worden. You only use geworden when werden is the main verb meaning "to become" (for example: Sie ist müde geworden - She has become tired).
Why does denken an take the accusative (die Zeit) here instead of the dative?
an is a two-way preposition. For physical locations, it often takes the dative to show a static position. However, when paired with verbs expressing a directed mental process, like denken an (to think about), sich erinnern an (to remember), or glauben an (to believe in), it always demands the accusative case.
How exactly is the past participle aufgeschlossen formed?
The infinitive is aufschließen (to unlock), which is a separable verb. To form the past participle, the -ge- is sandwiched between the separable prefix auf- and the verb stem. Since schließen is a strong verb (its base past participle is geschlossen), the final combined form is aufgeschlossen.
Why is the conjugated verb wäre right after die Tür, rather than at the very end of the sentence?
Because aber (but) is a coordinating conjunction, which occupies "position zero" and doesn't alter the word order. Therefore, die Tür sits in position 1, and the conjugated verb wäre takes position 2, just as it would in a normal main clause. Only the rest of the verb block (aufgeschlossen worden) gets kicked to the end.
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