Skip to content

Study Hub

Study Guides

This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.

Year 7 - German

Families: possessive adjectives 'mein', 'dein', 'sein', 'ihr' (nominative)

My family, my life: possessive adjectives

Unit Summary

This unit introduces the possessive adjectives 'mein', 'dein', 'sein' and 'ihr' in nominative and accusative forms. Pupils apply this knowledge to describe family members and, with word order 2, to narrate a day's activities. Pupils practise the sound-symbol correspondence [d] (final).

Lesson Summary

You will learn to recognise the possessive adjectives 'mein', 'dein', 'sein' and 'ihr' in the context of family, and understand how these words interact with nouns.

Key Notes

  • [ie] is pronounced as in 'Liebe' and like the English 'ee' sound.
  • [ei] is pronounced as in 'frei' and like the English word 'eye'.
  • A possessive adjective describes a noun by saying who possesses (owns) it, e.g., 'meine Schwester'.
  • Possessive adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun that follows.
  • 'Dein' means 'your', 'sein' means 'his' and 'ihr' means 'her'.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • [ie]: pronounced as in 'Liebe'
  • [ei]: pronounced as in 'frei'
  • possessive adjective: a word used to show who something belongs to, e.g., 'my'
  • sein: possessive adjective meaning 'his'
  • ihr: possessive adjective meaning 'her'

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Possessive adjectives match the gender of the person who owns the noun.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

[ie] is pronounced as in 'Liebe' and like the English 'ee' sound. [ei] is pronounced as in 'frei' and like the English word 'eye'.

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

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

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: Possessive adjectives match the gender of the person who owns the noun. Correction: Possessive adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun that follows, not with the person who owns the noun.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 7 German guide library.