was geschehen war

what had happened

→ was
phrase Uncommon #21,065
what had happened Uses the past perfect to refer to something that had happened earlier.
GE: Sie wusste nicht, was geschehen war.
EN: She didn’t know what had happened.

Es fiel Tom schwer zu schildern, was geschehen war.

Tom found it difficult to describe what had happened.

Tom beschrieb, was geschehen war.

Tom described what had happened.

Tom fing an, Maria genau zu erzählen, was geschehen war.

Tom began to tell Maria exactly what had happened.

Sie erzählte mir kurz, was geschehen war.

She briefly told me what had happened.

Ich wollte Tom erzählen, was geschehen war.

I wanted to tell Tom what had happened.

Ich wollte nicht darüber schreiben, was geschehen war.

I didn’t want to write about what had happened.

Tom beschloss, Maria nichts davon zu erzählen, was geschehen war.

Tom decided not to tell Maria what had happened.

Den ganzen Tag lang sprachen sie über das, was geschehen war.

All day long they talked about what had happened.

Tom war angeschlagen von dem, was geschehen war.

Tom was shaken by what had happened.

Ich entdeckte als erster, was geschehen war.

I was the first to discover what had happened.

Sie tat so, als kümmere es sie nicht, was geschehen war.

She pretended not to care about what had happened.

Tom versuchte, sich auf alles, was geschehen war, einen Reim zu machen.

Tom tried to make sense of everything that had happened.

Ich konnte nicht wirklich begreifen, was geschehen war.

I couldn't really understand what had happened.

Ich schüttelte den Kopf und erzählte noch einmal, was geschehen war.

I shook my head and recounted what had happened.