Learn Hardcore German: Die Sporthalle wurde im letzten Jahr renoviert und wirkt jetzt sehr modern. - The sports hall was renovated last year and now looks very modern.

This is the passive voice, which highlights the action done to the subject (the sports hall) rather than who did it. In German simple past passive you use the preterite of werden (here wurde) plus the past participle (renoviert). So Die Sporthalle wurde im letzten Jahr renoviert literally means “The sports hall was renovated last year.”

Why is im letzten Jahr used instead of just letztes Jahr, and what case does it take?

Im letzten Jahr is a prepositional phrase (“in the last year”) using in + dative (dem Jahr → im Jahr), so letzten is dative. You could also say simply letztes Jahr as an adverbial time expression (accusative), without a preposition. Both mean “last year,” but im letzten Jahr emphasises the period within that year.

Why doesn’t the word order change after und, and how does und affect the clauses?

Und is a coordinating conjunction linking two main clauses. Unlike subordinating conjunctions (e.g. weil), it does not push the verb to the end. Each clause remains a main clause with the finite verb in second position—here the verb wirkt comes immediately after und.

What does wirkt mean here, and how is it different from ist?

Wirkt comes from wirken (“to have an effect, to seem”). Die Sporthalle wirkt sehr modern means “The sports hall appears/seems very modern,” emphasising the impression it makes. Ist sehr modern would simply state a fact (“is very modern”) without that nuance of appearance.

Why does modern remain uninflected, and what role does it play grammatically?

Here modern is a predicative adjective linked by the verb wirken (just like with sein or werden). Predicative adjectives in German are not inflected, so you always use the base form: wirkt modern.

Why is die Sporthalle feminine, and how do I know the gender of compound nouns like this?

In German, the gender of a compound noun is always that of its final element. Sporthalle is composed of Sport + Halle, and Halle is feminine (die Halle), so the entire compound is die Sporthalle.

Could you use a different tense or aspect, like the present perfect passive?

Yes. The present perfect passive would be Die Sporthalle ist im letzten Jahr renoviert worden. It uses sein + past participle + worden. Writers often choose the simple past passive (wurde renoviert) in descriptions and reports, while spoken language may favour the present perfect passive.

Why is jetzt placed before sehr modern, and could its position change?

Jetzt is a time adverb (“now”) and follows the finite verb by default or comes early in the mid‐field. In wirkt jetzt sehr modern, time precedes manner (the adjective expression). You could shift jetzt for emphasis—e.g. … und jetzt wirkt die Sporthalle sehr modern—but the original order is the neutral, most common placement.