Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe war schlecht, aber diesmal war ich erfolgreich.

In this context, „Zeugnis“ usually means a school report or report card—the document you get at the end of a term or school year listing your grades.

A few nuances:

• Note = an individual grade (e.g. “eine gute Note in Mathe” = a good grade in math)
• Zeugnis = the whole report containing several grades

So „Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe war schlecht“ implies that the evaluation/report in math (or maybe the overall math part on the report card) was bad, not just one single test grade.

Because „Zeugnis“ is neuter in German: das Zeugnis.

The phrase „mein letztes Zeugnis“:

• mein = my (possessive determiner)
• letztes = last
• Zeugnis = report (neuter noun)

Here, „Zeugnis“ is:

• singular
• neuter
• in the nominative case (it’s the subject of the sentence)

Adjectives after a possessive (like mein, dein, sein) take the strong ending for the case and gender.
For neuter nominative singular, the ending is -es, so:

• mein letztes Zeugnis (correct)
• mein letzte Zeugnis (wrong – that ending would fit a feminine noun like meine letzte Prüfung)

In English, adjectives do not change form, but in German they do.

The English word “last” can correspond to different German forms depending on gender, case, and number:

• der letzte Test (masculine nominative)
• die letzte Prüfung (feminine nominative)
• das letzte Zeugnis → mein letztes Zeugnis (neuter nominative)

So “last” → letzter / letzte / letztes etc., depending on the noun it describes.
Here, „Zeugnis“ is neuter, so we need „letztes“.

In this sentence, „letztes“ means “most recent / previous”, not “final”.

• Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe = my most recent / previous report (card) in math
• If you wanted to say the final one ever, context would normally make that clear (for example, if you just finished school and are talking about your very last school report).

So default interpretation is “the last one before now”, not “the last one forever”.

The whole phrase „Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe“ is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence.

Structure:

• Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe = subject (nominative)
• war = verb (simple past of sein)
• schlecht = predicate adjective describing the subject

So:

• Wer oder was war schlecht? – Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe.
  This “Wer oder was?” test confirms nominative case.

„Mathe“ is a short, informal form of „Mathematik“ (maths, mathematics).
The full word is die Mathematik (feminine), and Mathe is also feminine in principle.

However, with school subjects, German normally drops the article:

• in Mathe (in math)
• in Deutsch (in German)
• in Geschichte (in history)

You would only use an article if you specify something:

• in der Matheklausur = in the math exam
• in dem Mathematikunterricht (im Mathematikunterricht) = in the math class

So „in Mathe“ without an article is natural and standard in this school-subject meaning.

Not in this sentence with the same meaning.

• „Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe war schlecht“
  = My last report in the subject of math was bad.

• „für Mathe“ would sound like “for math” in the sense of “intended for math”, which doesn’t fit with Zeugnis.

You might use „für Mathe“ in other contexts:

• Ich lerne für Mathe. = I’m studying for math (class/test).
• Ich brauche ein besseres Verständnis für Mathe. = I need a better understanding of math.

But for school reports, the standard preposition is „in“ (in a subject, in a test, etc.).

Because „schlecht“ here is a predicate adjective, not an adjective directly in front of a noun.

Compare:

• ein schlechtes Zeugnis – adjective before a noun → needs an ending
• Das Zeugnis war schlecht. – adjective after a form of sein → no ending

Rules:

• Adjectives before nouns: take endings (-e, -er, -es, -en, -em) according to gender/case.
• Adjectives after sein, werden, bleiben (predicate adjectives): stay in basic form, no ending.

So we say:

• Das Zeugnis war schlecht. (not schlechte)

Both are grammatically possible, but they differ slightly in usage and style.

• „war“ is simple past (Präteritum) of sein. It’s very common in written German, especially with sein and haben, and it’s perfectly natural in neutral narration.
• „ist gewesen“ is the present perfect (Perfekt). In spoken German, Perfekt is more common than Präteritum for most verbs, but with sein many people still use „war“ very often, both in speech and writing.

So:

• Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe war schlecht – fully standard, slightly more neutral/compact.
• Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe ist schlecht gewesen – correct, but sounds more awkward and is rarely needed here. People simply prefer „war“.

„aber“ is a coordinating conjunction (like “but” in English). Coordinating conjunctions in German do not change the basic word order of the clause. The finite verb still stays in position 2.

So:

• diesmal war ich erfolgreich (main clause)
• aber diesmal war ich erfolgreich (main clause introduced by aber)

Compare with a subordinating conjunction like „obwohl“:

• obwohl ich diesmal erfolgreich war → verb moves to the end (war is final)

So:

• aber → verb still at position 2 (German main clause word order)
• obwohl / weil / dass → verb at the end (subordinate clause word order)

Both are correct:

• diesmal (one word) – very common, slightly more informal in style
• dieses Mal (two words) – also correct, a bit more “proper” or explicit

Meaning:

• Both mean “this time”, with no real difference in meaning.

In normal modern usage:

• diesmal is very frequent in spoken and informal written German.
• dieses Mal appears more in careful writing, but you’ll see both.

So „aber diesmal war ich erfolgreich“ is completely standard.

German has a verb-second (V2) rule in main clauses: the finite verb must be in second position.

The "second position" is grammatical, not just “second word”. That means:

1. A complete element (time phrase, subject, object, etc.) can stand in first position.
2. The finite verb must then be the next element.

Here:

• First position: diesmal (an adverbial time phrase)
• Second position: war (verb)
• Rest: ich erfolgreich

So:

• diesmal war ich erfolgreich (correct: adverb – verb – subject – complement)
• diesmal ich war erfolgreich (wrong order: verb isn’t in second position)

„erfolgreich“ means “successful”.

In German, many adjectives describing states or characteristics are used with „sein“ (to be):

• Ich bin müde. – I am tired.
• Sie war nervös. – She was nervous.
• Er ist glücklich. – He is happy.
• Ich war erfolgreich. – I was successful.

So „erfolgreich“ here describes your state/result in this attempt (for example, a test or an exam).

You can also say:

• Ich hatte Erfolg. – I had success.
  But in everyday language, „Ich war erfolgreich“ is very natural and maybe a little more idiomatic when talking about the overall outcome.

Yes, that would be perfectly correct, but the focus changes slightly.

• „aber diesmal war ich erfolgreich“
  – Focus is on you and your success.

• „aber diesmal war mein Zeugnis in Mathe gut“
  – Focus is on the report in math being good this time.

Both follow the same grammar rules we discussed:

• war in second position
• Zeugnis in nominative (subject)
• gut as a predicate adjective (no ending)

So you could say:

• Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe war schlecht, aber diesmal war mein Zeugnis in Mathe gut.
  Or more naturally avoid repetition:
• Mein letztes Zeugnis in Mathe war schlecht, aber diesmal war es gut.