Log inSign up

Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist und haben den Termin fast verpasst.

Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist und haben den Termin fast verpasst.
Unfortunately, we (already) departed late yesterday and almost missed the appointment.
FromLesson 7inHardcore German

Questions & Answers about Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist und haben den Termin fast verpasst.

Why does the sentence use sind with abgereist but haben with verpasst?

Because German perfect tense uses different auxiliaries depending on the verb.

  • abreisen takes sein in the Perfekt: wir sind abgereist
  • verpassen takes haben in the Perfekt: wir haben verpasst

A useful rule is:

  • many verbs of movement or change of state use sein
  • most other verbs use haben

Since abreisen means to depart / leave, it uses sein.
Since verpassen means to miss, it uses haben.

Why is abgereist at the end of the first clause?

This is normal German word order in the Perfekt.

In a main clause, the conjugated auxiliary goes in second position, and the past participle goes to the end of the clause:

  • Wir sind ... abgereist.

So in:

  • Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist

the finite verb sind is in second position, and abgereist comes at the end of that clause.

The same thing happens in the second clause:

  • ... und haben den Termin fast verpasst

where haben is the finite verb and verpasst goes to the end.

What is abgereist exactly?

Abgereist is the past participle of abreisen, which means to depart, to leave, or to set off on a trip.

It is a separable verb:

  • infinitive: abreisen
  • present: Wir reisen ab
  • perfect participle: abgereist

With separable verbs in the past participle, German usually uses ge between the prefix and the stem:

  • ab + gereist = abgereist
Why does the sentence begin with Leider?

Leider means unfortunately. It comments on the whole situation.

German main clauses follow the verb-second rule, which means that whatever comes first counts as the first element, and then the finite verb must come second.

So:

  • Leider = first position
  • sind = second position

That is why the sentence is:

  • Leider sind wir ...

and not:

  • Leider wir sind ...
What does schon gestern mean here?

Here schon gestern means something like as early as yesterday or already yesterday, depending on context.

  • gestern = yesterday
  • schon adds the idea of already, as early as, or sometimes after all / in fact, depending on context

In this sentence, it suggests that the departure happened yesterday already, not today.

So the phrase can carry a nuance like:

  • we had already left yesterday
  • we set off as early as yesterday
Why is the order schon gestern and not gestern schon?

Both can be possible in German, but they can sound slightly different in emphasis.

  • schon gestern usually treats schon as modifying gestern: already yesterday / as early as yesterday
  • gestern schon often sounds more contrastive or emphasized: yesterday already

In this sentence, schon gestern is the more neutral, natural order.

What does verspätet mean here?

Verspätet means late or delayed.

In this sentence, it describes how they departed:

  • verspätet abgereist = departed late / left with a delay

So here verspätet is functioning adverbially, even though its form looks like an adjective.

German often uses adjective forms directly as adverbs:

  • schnell fahren = drive fast
  • früh kommen = come early
  • verspätet abreisen = depart late
What is the difference between verspätet abgereist and zu spät abgereist?

They are similar, but not identical in nuance.

  • verspätet abgereist = departed with a delay
  • zu spät abgereist = departed too late

Verspätet sounds a bit more neutral or factual, like something was delayed.
Zu spät more clearly stresses that the departure was later than it should have been.

In this sentence, verspätet fits well because it connects naturally with the consequence:

  • they left late
  • and almost missed the appointment
Why is it den Termin and not der Termin?

Because verpassen takes a direct object, and the direct object here is in the accusative case.

The noun is der Termin in the nominative, but in the accusative it becomes:

  • den Termin

So:

  • der Termin = the appointment/meeting time, as subject
  • den Termin = the appointment/meeting time, as object

Compare:

  • Der Termin ist wichtig. = The appointment is important.
  • Wir haben den Termin verpasst. = We missed the appointment.
What does Termin mean exactly? Is it really date?

Termin usually means:

  • appointment
  • scheduled meeting
  • arranged time
  • sometimes deadline or time slot, depending on context

For English speakers, appointment is often the safest translation.

It usually does not mean date in the romantic sense.
A romantic date would usually be ein Date in modern German, or expressed another way.

So in this sentence, den Termin fast verpasst most naturally means:

  • almost missed the appointment
  • almost missed the scheduled meeting
Why is fast before verpasst?

Fast means almost, and it usually stands before the element it modifies.

Here it modifies the verb idea verpasst:

  • fast verpasst = almost missed

So:

  • haben den Termin fast verpasst

means:

  • almost missed the appointment

That placement is very natural in German.

Why is there no second wir after und?

Because the subject is the same in both coordinated clauses, so German can leave it understood:

  • Leider sind wir ... abgereist und haben den Termin fast verpasst.

The full version would be:

  • Leider sind wir ... abgereist und wir haben den Termin fast verpasst.

But repeating wir is unnecessary here and would usually sound less smooth.

This is similar to English:

  • We left late and almost missed the appointment.

You do not need to repeat we in the second part.

Why does the second clause start with haben right after und?

Because und joins two main clauses, and each main clause has its own normal word order.

First clause:

  • Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist

Second clause:

  • (wir) haben den Termin fast verpasst

Since the subject wir is understood, the second clause begins directly with the finite verb haben.

So after und, German is basically continuing with another main clause.

Why is the sentence in the Perfekt instead of the Präteritum?

Because in everyday spoken German, the Perfekt is very commonly used to talk about past events.

So this sounds natural in conversation:

  • sind ... abgereist
  • haben ... verpasst

A more literary or written-style version in some contexts might use Präteritum:

  • Leider reisten wir schon gestern verspätet ab und verpassten den Termin fast.

But that sounds more formal or narrative. For normal spoken German, the original sentence is much more natural.

Could gestern be placed somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes, German word order is flexible, though different placements change emphasis.

For example, you could also say:

  • Leider sind wir gestern schon verspätet abgereist ...
  • Gestern sind wir leider schon verspätet abgereist ...

These versions are possible, but they shift the focus slightly.

The original:

  • Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist

sounds natural and keeps Leider as the speaker’s main comment and schon gestern as one time expression.

Is the sentence saying they left yesterday and almost missed an appointment yesterday too?

Not necessarily. The sentence itself does not explicitly say when the Termin was.

It says:

  • they departed late already yesterday
  • and as a result they almost missed the appointment

Depending on context, the appointment could have been:

  • later that same day
  • today
  • or at some other relevant time

So the grammar does not force both events to be on the same day; the wider context would decide that.

What is the basic structure of the whole sentence?

It has two coordinated main clauses joined by und:

  1. Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist
  2. (wir) haben den Termin fast verpasst

You can break it down like this:

  • Leider = unfortunately
  • sind = auxiliary in second position
  • wir = subject
  • schon gestern = time expression
  • verspätet = late / delayed
  • abgereist = departed

and then:

  • und = and
  • haben = auxiliary
  • den Termin = the appointment
  • fast = almost
  • verpasst = missed

That is a very typical German sentence pattern.

AI Language TutorTry it ↗
Your avatar
“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.

Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor

Start learning German

Master German — from Leider sind wir schon gestern verspätet abgereist und haben den Termin fast verpasst to fluency

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
  • ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
  • ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
  • ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions
Start learning German →