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Year 10 - German

Berlin: 'wissen' vs 'kennen'

Travel and tourism: Reiseziele

Unit Summary

This consolidation unit revisits all of the grammar covered in previous units in the context of travel destinations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Pupils learn to use 'man' in order to avoid the passive, and also learn 'sein' and 'ihr' in nominative, accusative and dative to mean 'its'.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use 'wissen' and 'kennen' in the present and past tense to talk about knowledge, and can use a range of strategies for reading tasks.

Key Notes

  • 'Wissen' means to 'to know' facts. 'Kennen' means 'to know' someone or to be familiar with something.
  • The imperfect verb stem of 'wissen' is 'wuss-'; 'kennen' is 'kann-'. Use weak imperfect endings with both verbs.
  • The past participle of 'wissen' is 'gewusst'; 'kennen' is 'gekannt'. Both form the perfect tense with 'haben'.
  • When reading an extended text, notice tenses and vocabulary. Focus on questions carefully to identify required details.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • wissen: verb meaning 'to know', used with facts
  • kennen: verb meaning 'to know' someone or to be familiar with something
  • imperfect tense: synonymous with the simple past; German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; e.g., 'war', 'hatte', 'gab'
  • perfect tense: German two-word past tense using either 'haben' or 'sein' with a past participle

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • 'Wissen' and 'kennen' are interchangeable.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.

'Wissen' means to 'to know' facts. 'Kennen' means 'to know' someone or to be familiar with something. The imperfect verb stem of 'wissen' is 'wuss-'; 'kennen' is 'kann-'. Use weak imperfect endings with both verbs.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'wissen'

verb meaning 'to know', used with facts. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: 'Wissen' and 'kennen' are interchangeable. Correction: Use 'wissen' with facts (e.g., 'Ich weiß nicht!') and 'kennen' with people or things you are familiar with ('Ich kenne deinen Freund.').

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 10 German guide library.