Learn Hardcore German: Obwohl unser Vorort eng war, fand jedes Jahr ein kleines Umweltfest statt. - Although our suburb was cramped, a small environmental festival took place every year.

In German, any clause introduced by a subordinating conjunction like obwohl (“although”) forces the finite verb into final position. This is called Verbfinalstellung. That’s why war (“was”) comes after all other elements in that subordinate clause.

Why does the main clause start with fand instead of the subject ein kleines Umweltfest?

German main clauses follow the V2 word order rule: the finite verb must occupy the second “slot.” However, because the entire subordinate clause (Obwohl unser Vorort eng war) counts as the first slot, the verb fand (“took place”) appears immediately after the comma. The time adverbial jedes Jahr then fills the slot between the verb and the subject, pushing ein kleines Umweltfest further to the right.

Why is kleines spelled with -es at the end?

Kleines is an adjective modifying a neuter singular noun (das Umweltfest). Since it comes after the indefinite article ein, it follows the strong adjective declension pattern and takes -es in the nominative case (neuter singular):
• der Umweltfest → ein kleines Umweltfest

Why is statt at the very end of the main clause?

Stattfinden (“to take place”) is a separable verb. In main clauses, the prefix statt- detaches and moves to the end, while the root finden is conjugated as fand in the simple past:
• fand … statt

Can I use jährlich instead of jedes Jahr, and what’s the difference?

Yes. You could rewrite the sentence as:
“Obwohl unser Vorort eng war, fand jährlich ein kleines Umweltfest statt.”
jährlich is an adverb meaning “annually,” while jedes Jahr is an accusative time expression meaning “every year.” Both are correct; jedes Jahr is more explicit, jährlich is more concise.

Do I always need a comma after obwohl?

Yes. When a subordinate clause introduced by obwohl comes before or after the main clause, you must separate the clauses with a comma. Omitting this comma would violate standard German punctuation rules.

Why is it unser Vorort and not unsere Vorort?

Vorort is a masculine noun (der Vorort). The possessive pronoun unser declines like an article. In nominative singular masculine it remains unser (no additional ending). You would only use unsere if the noun were feminine or plural.

How would I express this sentence in the Perfekt (present perfect) tense?

You’d need the auxiliary haben and the past participle stattgefunden, plus gewesen for war:
“Obwohl unser Vorort eng gewesen ist, hat jedes Jahr ein kleines Umweltfest stattgefunden.”
Note that in spoken German, the Perfekt is more common than the Präteritum for everyday events.