Breakdown of Als ich das erste Mal im Ausland war, verlor ich an der Grenze meinen Pass.
sein
to be
in
in
ich
I
mein
my
an
at
verlieren
to lose
als
when
erste
first
die Grenze
the border
der Pass
the passport
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Questions & Answers about Als ich das erste Mal im Ausland war, verlor ich an der Grenze meinen Pass.
Why is als used here instead of wenn?
Als is a subordinating conjunction that refers to a single, completed event in the past. You use als when you talk about something that happened once (e.g. “when I first went abroad”). Wenn, on the other hand, is used for repeated events (“whenever”) or conditional statements (“if”). Since this sentence describes one specific past occasion, als is the right choice.
Why does the verb war appear at the end of the first clause?
In German subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like als, the finite verb moves to the very end. The structure is: conjunction (als), subject (ich), other elements (das erste Mal im Ausland), and then the verb (war). That’s why war is last in the clause Als ich das erste Mal im Ausland war.
Why does the main clause start with the verb verlor instead of the subject ich?
Because the subordinate clause Als ich … war comes before the comma, the main clause technically begins only afterward. When a main clause starts immediately after a subordinate clause, the finite verb often occupies the first position, so you get verlor ich rather than ich verlor.
Why is it meinen Pass and not mein Pass?
Pass is a masculine noun and here it’s the direct object of verloren. In the accusative case for masculine nouns, the possessive mein must take the –en ending, giving meinen Pass.
Why is it im Ausland (dative) and not ins Ausland (accusative)?
im is the contraction of in dem and indicates location (where something is). Since you use war (“was”) to describe being in a place, you need the dative case. You would use ins (in das) Ausland only if there were movement into the foreign country, e.g. „Ich reiste ins Ausland.“
Why is the phrase an der Grenze using an with the dative?
The preposition an can govern the dative when it expresses location (“at the border”). Grenze is feminine, so its dative article is der, giving an der Grenze.
Why is there only one comma after war, and no comma in the main clause?
In German you place a comma before and after subordinate clauses. Here Als ich … war is the only subordinate clause, so there’s a comma after war. Within the main clause verlor ich an der Grenze meinen Pass, you don’t separate subject, verb, adverbials or objects with commas.
Why does an der Grenze come before meinen Pass in the main clause?
German word order is relatively flexible, but a common default is to place location or time expressions before direct objects. Here an der Grenze (location) precedes meinen Pass (the new information object), which also improves clarity and flow.
What role does das erste Mal play, and why is it neuter?
das erste Mal is a nominalized adverbial phrase meaning “the first time.” Many such time expressions in German use the neuter noun das Mal. Grammatically it’s a neuter singular noun introduced by das and modified by the ordinal erste; it functions adverbially to specify when.
Could I also say als ich im Ausland das erste Mal war? Does word order matter?
Yes. Both als ich das erste Mal im Ausland war and als ich im Ausland das erste Mal war are grammatically correct. German allows flexibility in placing temporal and locational phrases, though starting with das erste Mal puts a bit more emphasis on “the first time.”