Past tense

Could “Ja, einmal ist mein Gepäck auf einem Flug nach Australien verloren gegangen.” 

also be correctly stated as 

“Ja, einmal war mein Gepäck auf einem Flug nach Australien verloren.”

Hallo JosephP50,

Thank you for your question! 

You can think of the construction “ist verloren gegangen” as something got lost or went missing. The construction of “war verloren” (was lost) is not totally wrong per se, but using the verb “verloren gehen” in this situation would be more common. 

Hope this helps, 

Julia

Thanks, it does help.  I understand that one is more common and therefore preferred, but i was wondering if  “war verloren” made sense.  As an english speaker, it seems easier to say in the past tense.  So that is why I asked.

At this stage of my learning, I believe I would be more likely to ask it in the past tense and I wondered if I would be understood.

Hi again! 

If you mean if people in Germany would understand this sentence, then yes, they definitly would :) 

In saying that, this kind of construction is usually used when talking about people rather than losing things, e.g. 

“Ich war verloren.” - “I was lost.”

In this particular example, you can also think of the meaning as being “at a loss” or “feeling lost”. 

 You may also say “Ja, einmal habe ich mein Gepäck auf einem Flug nach Australien verloren.” -"Yes, once I lost my luggage on a flight to Australia."

Hope this helps!

Viele Grüße

Julia