Year 11 - German
Die Vennbahn: perfect tense, imperfect tense, weak past participles
Travel and tourism: Kulturszene
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit revisits previously taught grammar with practice of the perfect tense (haben and sein) and simple past with früher, gern and lieber. Comparative adverb structures are consolidated along with plural nouns and irregular nationality nouns. 'wo' and 'was' in relative clauses are revisited.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to use adverbs to give and respond to detailed responses in the past tense, form past participles of a range of weak verbs, and apply this knowledge when translating into German.
Key Notes
- Use 'gern', 'lieber' and 'früher' with a past tense to mean 'liked', 'rather', 'in the past, used to'.
- Weak verbs form their past participles by sandwiching the verb stem with 'ge-' and '-t', e.g., 'gespielt'.
- Verbs with separable prefixes add 'ge-' after the separable prefix, e.g., 'aufgemacht'.
- Verbs with inseparable prefixes do not add 'ge-' to form their past participle, e.g., 'erlebt'.
- Verbs ending '-ieren' do not add 'ge-' to form the past participle. They add the suffix '-iert', e.g., 'ausprobiert'.
Vocabulary To Learn
- gern: adverb meaning 'gladly, liked to' with the past tense
- lieber: comparative adverb meaning 'more gladly, rather'
- früher: adverb meaning 'previously, in former times, in the past'
- past participle: verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb 'haben' or 'sein'
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- 'Lieber' means 'love'.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
Use 'gern', 'lieber' and 'früher' with a past tense to mean 'liked', 'rather', 'in the past, used to'. Weak verbs form their past participles by sandwiching the verb stem with 'ge-' and '-t', e.g., 'gespielt'.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'gern'
adverb meaning 'gladly, liked to' with the past tense. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: 'Lieber' means 'love'. Correction: It is easy to confuse the words 'Liebe', 'liebe' and 'lieber', particularly in spoken German. Pay careful attention to pronunciation and listen out for [er]. 'Liebe' is a noun (love), 'liebe' is a verb (love) and 'lieber' is an adverb (more gladly).
More Lessons In This Unit
- Bertha von Suttner: perfect tense change of state verbs, superlative adjectives Study Guide
- Berühmte Deutsche: subject relative clauses, wh- pronouns in relative clauses Study Guide
- Die Brüder Grimm: plural nouns, weak masculine nouns Study Guide
- Traditionen in der Schweiz: abstract adjectival neuter nouns Study Guide
- Traditionen in Österreich: comparative adverbs, postnominal superlatives Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 11 German guide library.