Year 11 - German
Die Umwelt: word order with questions, questions with wo-compounds
Lifestyle and wellbeing: Meine Welt
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit revisits a range of known grammar in the context of social and global inequalities. The future and conditional tenses are reactivated. 'Nach' and 'nachdem', 'vor' and 'bevor' are revisited. Word order 3 with conjunctions ob, sobald, solange, bis and damit are practised.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to use wo-compounds and the correct word order in questions in an interview to learn more about the environment.
Key Notes
- Closed questions where the answer is yes/no are formed by inverting the subject and verb.
- Open questions, which seek more information than yes/no, start with a question word followed by the verb then subject.
- Use wo- and wor- prefixes with prepositions to ask questions. Prepositions do not stand alone at the end of a question.
- Many verbs take prepositions and require a wo-compound when asking questions.
Vocabulary To Learn
- closed question: question formed by inverting subject and verb where the answer is yes/no
- open question: question starting with a wh- word that has more information in the answer than yes/no
- preposition: word that is used before a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to another word
- wo-, wor-: prefix added to prepositions to ask questions
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- All questions in German invert the subject and verb. Apart from that the word order is the same as English.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
Closed questions where the answer is yes/no are formed by inverting the subject and verb. Open questions, which seek more information than yes/no, start with a question word followed by the verb then subject.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'closed question'
question formed by inverting subject and verb where the answer is yes/no. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: All questions in German invert the subject and verb. Apart from that the word order is the same as English. Correction: Subject and verb are inverted, but word order differs from English for a verb with a preposition - 'What are you talking about?'. In German, a preposition never ends a question. Use 'wo(r)' + preposition to start the question - 'Worüber redest du?'.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Armut in Deutschland: 'bis' as preposition, 'bis' and 'wenn' as conjunctions Study Guide
- Biodiversität: definite and indefinite articles after prepositions, da-compounds Study Guide
- Das Leben mit Behinderung: stem changes in present tense weak verbs Study Guide
- Diskriminerung im Alltag: 'damit' da-compound vs 'damit' conjunction Study Guide
- Du siehst nicht krank aus: word order in 2-verb structures with conjunctions Study Guide
- Energiekrise in Deutschland: future vs conditional, 2-verb rule Study Guide
- Gemeinsam statt einsam: prepositions vor, nach and conjunctions bevor, nachdem Study Guide
- Meine Welt - Platz für alle: extended listening and spoken production Study Guide
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