Breakdown of Er hat zwar angerufen, aber niemand war da.
sein
to be
haben
to have
anrufen
to call (by phone)
da
there
niemand
no one
zwar ... aber
admittedly ... but
Questions & Answers about Er hat zwar angerufen, aber niemand war da.
What exactly does zwar mean here, and why is the sentence translated with "did"?
The pair zwar ... aber means "admittedly ... but" or "it is true that ... but". English often expresses this exact same feeling simply by stressing the helping verb, like saying "He did call, but...". The word zwar acknowledges a fact and sets up the expectation that a contrast is coming.
Could I start the sentence with Zwar?
Yes, you can say Zwar hat er angerufen, aber niemand war da. Moving zwar to the first position puts extra focus on it. Just remember that because zwar acts as an adverb, putting it in position one pushes the subject er to the spot right after the verb hat.
Why doesn't the verb go to the end of the sentence after aber?
The word aber is a coordinating conjunction, which means it links two independent main clauses. It takes up "position zero" in its clause. Because it doesn't count as the first idea, the subject niemand sits in position one, and the verb war stays in its normal spot at position two.
Why is there a mix of past tenses, using hat angerufen and then war?
This is the most natural way to speak in German. While most verbs use the spoken past (Perfekt) in everyday conversation, a few highly common verbs like sein (to be) and haben (to have) almost always use their simple past (Präteritum) forms, like war and hatte, rather than their clunky Perfekt forms.
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