Year 7 - German
Saying what something is like: subject pronouns 'er', 'sie', 'es' for 'it'
Christmas: singular and plural nouns
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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 introduces pupils to 4 rules for forming plural nouns in German and provides opportunities for practice with the use of 'es gibt'. It will also teach pupils how to use plurals with 'sein' 3rd person plural, and 'sie' meaning 'they'. They practise sound-symbol correspondence [ü] and [ä].
Lesson Summary
You will learn to say what something is like, identifying grammatical gender and using the correct word for 'it'.
Key Notes
- [ö] can be either long like in 'schön' or short like in 'plötzlich'.
- In German, subject pronouns tell us the grammatical gender of the subject.
- German has three words for the subject pronoun 'it' - masculine 'er', feminine 'sie' and neuter 'es'.
Vocabulary To Learn
- [ö]: pronounced long [ö] as in 'schön' and short [ö] as in 'plötzlich'
- subject pronoun: represents the person, people or thing(s) doing the verb, e.g., I, we, they
- er: subject pronoun 'he' and 'it' for masculine nouns
- sie: subject pronoun 'she' and 'it' for feminine nouns
- es: subject pronoun 'it' for neuter nouns
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- 'Er' and 'sie' only mean 'he' and 'she'.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
[ö] can be either long like in 'schön' or short like in 'plötzlich'. In German, subject pronouns tell us the grammatical gender of the subject.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. '[ö]'
pronounced long [ö] as in 'schön' and short [ö] as in 'plötzlich'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: 'Er' and 'sie' only mean 'he' and 'she'. Correction: Whilst 'er' and 'sie' do mean 'he' and 'she', they are also the masculine and neuter words for 'it'.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Christmas traditions: 'sein' 3rd person singular and plural, plurals - +(e)n Study Guide
- Christmas traditions: singular and plural nouns Study Guide
- Christmas: 'Es gibt' with plurals, the song 'O Tannenbaum' Study Guide
- Christmas: definite article 'die', plurals with umlaut +e, no change -el/-en/-er Study Guide
- How many? Ask questions and give statements with plural nouns Study Guide
- Numbers 1-12: plurals adding umlaut + -er Study Guide
- What you and others have and what it is like: subject pronoun 'sie' for 'they' Study Guide
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