Learn Hardcore German: Meine Karriere im Homeoffice begann, als unser Baby geboren wurde. - My career in the home office began when our baby was born.

mein: masculine/neuter nominative singular (e.g. mein Job, mein Kind)
meine: feminine nominative singular (and all plural forms) (e.g. meine Karriere, meine Kinder)

Why is it im Homeoffice and not in dem Homeoffice?

Im is the standard contraction of in dem in German.

in → “in”
dem → dative article for masculine/neuter singular
in dem → usually contracted to im in normal speech and writing.

So:

in dem Homeoffice = grammatically correct but sounds stiff
im Homeoffice = natural, everyday German

The dative is used because this is a location (where the career is happening), not a direction (where it is going).

Is Homeoffice real German or just English stuck into German?

Homeoffice is now very common in German, but it doesn’t mean exactly what it means in English.

In German:

das Homeoffice often means “working from home” as a concept or situation, not a physical room.
- im Homeoffice arbeiten = to work from home
- Meine Karriere im Homeoffice = my career in a work-from-home setup

So although it looks English, Germans use it in a slightly different, more abstract way than English speakers usually do with home office.

Why is the verb begann and not hat begonnen?

Both are grammatically possible, but they differ in style and frequency:

begann = simple past (Präteritum)
hat begonnen = present perfect (Perfekt)

For many verbs, especially in written or slightly more formal German, the simple past is preferred:

Meine Karriere ... begann sounds like a narrative, written style.

In spoken, everyday German you’d more often hear:

Meine Karriere im Homeoffice hat begonnen, als ...

So the sentence uses begann because it fits a more narrative/written style.

Why is there a comma before als?

In German, you must put a comma before a subordinate clause (Nebensatz).

als unser Baby geboren wurde is a subordinate clause introduced by als.
That clause has its verb at the end (geboren wurde), which is typical for subordinate clauses.

Rule:
Main clause, comma, subordinating conjunction (als, weil, dass, etc.) + clause with verb at the end.

So:

Meine Karriere im Homeoffice begann, als unser Baby geboren wurde. ✅
Leaving out the comma would be wrong in standard German.

What’s the difference between als and wenn here? Could I say wenn unser Baby geboren wurde?

Here you must use als, not wenn.

als for a single event in the past (“when our baby was born (that one time)”)
wenn for:
- repeated events: “whenever”
- present/future conditions: “if/when”

So:

Als unser Baby geboren wurde, begann meine Karriere im Homeoffice. ✅
Wenn unser Baby geboren wurde, begann ... ❌ (sounds wrong; mixes tenses and aspect)

You could use wenn in a different kind of sentence, for example:

Wenn unser Baby schläft, arbeite ich im Homeoffice.
(“When/whenever our baby sleeps, I work from home.”)

Why is it unser Baby and not unseres or unsere?

Baby is neuter in German: das Baby.

In this sentence, Baby is the subject of the subordinate clause:

unser Baby → nominative neuter singular

The possessive unser- changes with gender and case:

unser Baby (nominative neuter)
unsere Tochter (nominative feminine)
unser Sohn (nominative masculine)
unseres Babys (genitive neuter, “of our baby”)

So unser is the correct ending for nominative neuter singular.

Why is it geboren wurde and not just war geboren or ist geboren?

geboren werden is a special passive construction in German.

geboren werden = “to be born” (event)
geboren sein = “to be born” in the sense of “to have been born (and now that’s a fact)”

In a narrative about when something happened, you use the passive with werden:

unser Baby wurde geboren = our baby was born (then)

war geboren is used very differently, more like a state:

Er war 1990 geboren. → He was born in 1990. (stating a fact about his birth year)

ist geboren is okay only in certain fixed facts:

Er ist in Berlin geboren. → He was born in Berlin.

But in this time-clause about the birth event itself, geboren wurde is the natural choice:

als unser Baby geboren wurde ✅

Why is the word order als unser Baby geboren wurde and not als unser Baby wurde geboren?

Because als introduces a subordinate clause, and in subordinate clauses the conjugated verb goes to the end.

Here, wurde is the conjugated verb (3rd person singular of werden). So:

Correct subordinate clause order:
als + subject + (other elements) + participle + conjugated verb
→ als unser Baby geboren wurde

Als unser Baby wurde geboren would put the conjugated verb too early; that’s main-clause word order, which is not allowed after als.

Why is Karriere capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized, regardless of where they appear in the sentence.

Karriere is a noun → capitalized
Homeoffice is a noun → capitalized
Baby is a noun → capitalized

Adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech are normally not capitalized (except at the start of a sentence or in specific fixed uses).

Why does the verb begann come after the long phrase Meine Karriere im Homeoffice?

German main clauses follow the verb-second rule (V2):

The finite verb must be in the second position of the clause.
“Second position” means second element, not second word.

In this sentence:

First element: Meine Karriere im Homeoffice (a long subject phrase)
Second element: begann (the verb)

So the order is:

Meine Karriere im Homeoffice begann, ... ✅

The entire subject phrase counts as one slot; that’s why the verb still satisfies the V2 rule.

Could I start with the als clause instead? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can put the als clause first; the meaning stays the same, but the emphasis shifts slightly.

Alternative:

Als unser Baby geboren wurde, begann meine Karriere im Homeoffice.

This:

emphasizes the time/event of the baby’s birth as the starting point
still keeps correct word order:
- Subordinate clause (verb at the end)
- Comma
- Main clause with verb in second position (begann after meine Karriere im Homeoffice)

Is there any difference between Karriere and something like Beruf in this context?

Yes, there is a nuance:

Karriere = “career” in the sense of professional development, progression, possibly ambition or long-term path.
Beruf = “occupation/profession”, more neutral; the job you have.

Meine Karriere im Homeoffice suggests:

not just that you work from home,
but that a real professional path or development started in that context.

Mein Beruf im Homeoffice begann ... would sound unusual and much less natural.

Why is Homeoffice in the dative case here?

The preposition in can take either dative or accusative, depending on meaning:

in + dative = location (where something is)
in + accusative = direction (where something is going)

Here, it describes a situation/location of the career:

im (in dem) Homeoffice → location → dative

So:

Meine Karriere ist im Homeoffice. (location)
Ich gehe ins Homeoffice. (direction: in das → ins, accusative)

Is there a more “German-sounding” alternative to Homeoffice?

Yes, common alternatives include:

im Büro zu Hause (literally “in the office at home”) – a bit unusual
von zu Hause aus (from home)
- e.g. Meine Karriere begann, als ich von zu Hause aus arbeiten konnte.
im häuslichen Arbeitszimmer (more formal/dated)

However, im Homeoffice has become very standard and idiomatic, especially since remote work has become widespread.