Learn Hardcore German: Nach der Prüfung war meine Enttäuschung groß, aber innerlich wusste ich, dass ich wenig gelernt hatte. - After the exam my disappointment was great, but inwardly I knew that I had studied little.

First position: Nach der Prüfung (a whole prepositional phrase counts as one “slot”)
Second position: war (the finite verb)
Rest of the sentence: meine Enttäuschung groß

You could also say:

Meine Enttäuschung war nach der Prüfung groß.
Meine Enttäuschung war groß nach der Prüfung.

In all cases, the conjugated verb war stays in second position of the clause.
Nach der Prüfung meine Enttäuschung war groß is wrong because the verb is not in second position.

Why is it meine Enttäuschung and not mein Enttäuschung?

The noun Enttäuschung is feminine (die Enttäuschung).
Possessive pronouns agree with the gender and number of the noun, not with the person who possesses it.

For ich (I):

masculine / neuter noun: mein (e.g. mein Tisch, mein Auto)
feminine noun: meine (e.g. meine Tasche, meine Enttäuschung)
plural (all genders): meine (e.g. meine Bücher)

So with feminine Enttäuschung, you must say meine Enttäuschung.

Why do we say meine Enttäuschung war groß instead of ich war sehr enttäuscht?

Both are possible, but they focus on slightly different things.

Meine Enttäuschung war groß.
Focuses on the disappointment itself as a thing that has a size or intensity. It sounds a bit more formal or written‑style.
Ich war sehr enttäuscht.
Focuses on you as a person and your emotional state. This is more direct and common in everyday language.

You could rewrite the sentence as:

Nach der Prüfung war ich sehr enttäuscht, aber …
It would be natural German, just slightly different in style and focus.

What does groß mean here? Literally “big”?

Literally, groß means big/large, but with abstract nouns like Enttäuschung, it often means strong, great, intense.

So:

meine Enttäuschung war groß ≈ “my disappointment was great/very strong”

This figurative use of groß is very common:

große Freude – great joy
große Angst – great fear
große Hoffnung – great hope

Why is there a comma before aber?

In this sentence, aber connects two full main clauses:

Nach der Prüfung war meine Enttäuschung groß
innerlich wusste ich, dass ich wenig gelernt hatte

In German, when a coordinating conjunction (aber, und, oder, denn, sondern) joins two independent clauses, you must put a comma before it:

…, aber …
…, und …
…, oder …

So the comma before aber is required because both parts could stand as complete sentences on their own.

Why is the word order aber innerlich wusste ich and not aber ich wusste innerlich?

Both orders are grammatically correct:

aber innerlich wusste ich
aber ich wusste innerlich

The difference is mainly emphasis and style.

aber innerlich wusste ich
- innerlich is put in first position of the clause.
- Then, following V2, the verb wusste must come second, and ich comes after that.
- This order emphasizes innerlich (“on the inside, deep down”).
aber ich wusste innerlich
- ich is first, wusste is second (V2), and innerlich comes later.
- More neutral emphasis, focusing first on the subject ich.

Fronting innerlich sounds a bit more expressive, like: “but inside, I knew …”

What exactly does innerlich mean here? Is it an adjective or an adverb?

Innerlich is an adjective that is often used adverbially.

As an adjective: eine innere Unruhe (an inner restlessness)
As an adverb: Ich war innerlich ruhig. (I was calm on the inside.)

In the sentence aber innerlich wusste ich …, innerlich describes how you knew it: not openly, but inside, deep down.

You could paraphrase:

aber tief im Innern wusste ich, dass …
but deep down I knew that …

Why is it wusste and not something like habe gewusst?

Wusste is the simple past (Präteritum) of wissen.

In standard written German, many common verbs—like sein, haben, werden, wissen, können, müssen—are often used in the simple past rather than the present perfect:

ich wusste (I knew)
ich habe gewusst (I have known / I knew)

Both forms are grammatically correct. In everyday spoken German, you might hear ich habe gewusst more often, but in narrative or written style, ich wusste is very natural and often preferred.

So here the writer chose the more narrative, written‑style wusste.

What does dass do in dass ich wenig gelernt hatte, and why does the verb move?

Dass is a subordinating conjunction meaning that.
In German, subordinating conjunctions send the conjugated verb to the end of the clause.

Compare:

Main clause: Ich hatte wenig gelernt.
→ verb hatte is in second position.
Subordinate clause with dass:
…, dass ich wenig gelernt hatte.
→ subject ich, object/adverb wenig gelernt, and the conjugated verb hatte goes to the end.

So dass introduces a subordinate clause and triggers verb‑final word order in that clause.

Why is it gelernt hatte in the subordinate clause, not hatte gelernt?

In subordinate clauses with compound tenses, all verbs go to the end.
The usual order is:

non‑finite verb(s) (infinitive or past participle)
finite auxiliary verb (the conjugated form)

So we get:

…, dass ich wenig gelernt hatte.

Pattern:

…, dass ich es vergessen habe.
…, dass er kommen wird.
…, weil sie arbeiten musste.

In main clauses it’s different:

Ich hatte wenig gelernt. (finite verb second, participle at the end)

So:

Main clause: ich hatte gelernt
Subordinate clause: …, dass ich gelernt hatte

Why is the tense hatte gelernt used, not habe gelernt or lernte?

Hatte gelernt is the past perfect (Plusquamperfekt).
It expresses an action that happened before another past event.

Timeline in the sentence:

Time before the exam: ich hatte wenig gelernt (I had studied little)
Then the exam: Prüfung
After the exam: I was disappointed and knew this.

So hatte gelernt fits because the lack of studying happened before both:

the exam, and
the moment of disappointment and realization.

Comparisons:

ich habe wenig gelernt – I didn’t study much (present perfect, neutral past)
ich lernte wenig – I studied little (simple past, more literary)
ich hatte wenig gelernt – I had studied little before some other past event

Why is it wenig gelernt and not ein wenig gelernt or nicht viel gelernt?

All three are possible, but they differ in tone:

wenig gelernt
→ “little, not much” with a clearly negative tone
He didn’t study enough, clearly insufficient.
nicht viel gelernt
→ “not much studied,” also negative, but often a bit softer or more colloquial.
ein wenig gelernt
→ “a little (bit) studied,” a mildly positive tone: at least some studying happened.

In the sentence, wenig gelernt underlines that the amount of studying was seriously too little, matching the disappointment after the exam.