Breakdown of Er war traurig darüber, dass wir die Dominosteine falsch aufstellten.
sein
to be
er
he
falsch
wrong
wir
we
traurig
sad
dass
that
darüber
about it, over it
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
der Dominostein
the domino
aufstellen
to set up
Questions & Answers about Er war traurig darüber, dass wir die Dominosteine falsch aufstellten.
Why do we use darüber here instead of just jumping straight into the dass clause?
The adjective traurig takes the preposition über (to be sad about something). When you want to connect a preposition to an action described in a dass clause, German requires a "da-word" as a bridge. Here, über becomes darüber in the main clause, acting as a placeholder pointing forward to the rest of the sentence (literally: "sad about it, that...").
aufstellen is a separable verb. Why doesn't the prefix auf separate in this sentence?
In a standard main clause, the prefix does separate and goes to the end (e.g., Wir stellten die Dominosteine auf.). However, the second half of this sentence is a subordinate clause starting with dass, which forces the conjugated verb to the very end. When the verb gets pushed all the way to the end, it reconnects with its prefix and is written as a single word: aufstellten.
Could I use the conversational past (Perfekt) here instead of the Präteritum (aufstellten)?
Yes, you could absolutely say ...dass wir die Dominosteine falsch aufgestellt haben. Spoken German heavily prefers the Perfekt for past actions. However, since the first half of the sentence already uses the simple past (war), using the Präteritum (aufstellten) in the second half keeps the whole thought in a consistent, slightly more formal storytelling style.
How would I apply this lesson's grammar to say "The dominoes should not have been set up incorrectly"?
You would say: Die Dominosteine hätten nicht falsch aufgestellt werden sollen. This is the Konjunktiv II past passive with a modal verb. The conjugated helping verb hätten takes the second position, which pushes the past participle (aufgestellt), the passive marker (werden), and the modal infinitive (sollen) into a cluster at the very end of the sentence.
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