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Year 10 - German

Wissen ist Macht! 'Wissen', 'kennen', 'können'

People and lifestyle: sprichst du Deutsch?

Unit Summary

This unit revisits the present tense of strong verbs, negation with nicht and kein, compound and plural nouns in the context of learning a new language. Pupils learn to distinguish between wissen, kennen and können with opportunities to apply all these in listening, reading, speaking and writing.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use 'wissen', 'kennen' and 'können' to talk about knowledge.

Key Notes

The SSCs [-ss-] and [-ß-] sound the same.
'Wissen' means to know with facts.
'Kennen' means to know someone or be familiar with something.
'Können' means to be able to, to know how to do something.

Vocabulary To Learn

[-ss-]: pronounced as in 'lassen'
[-ß-]: pronounced as in 'Spaß'
wissen: to know with facts
können: to be able to, to know how to do something.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

[ß] is a capital B and sounds like [b].

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The SSCs [-ss-] and [-ß-] sound the same. 'Wissen' means to know with facts.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. '[-ss-]'

pronounced as in 'lassen'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: [ß] is a capital B and sounds like [b]. Correction: [ß] sounds the same as [ss]. [ß] is used after long vowels, [ss] after short vowels. In words with 's' as the final sound, the spelling [-s] or [ß] needs to be learnt; for example, 'Glas' or 'Spaß'.

More Lessons In This Unit

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