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Year 8 - German

Exchange gifts: 'von' and 'für', possessive adjectives (accusative and dative)

Family and friends: verbs with indirect objects

Unit Summary

This unit introduces verbs with indirect objects in familiar contexts involving family and friends. Pupils apply this in terms of exchanging gifts, and giving a range of opinions using verbs such as 'gefallen'. Word order 2 and 3 are revisited as pupils give opinions with or without 'dass'.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use the prepositions 'für' and 'von' and dative verbs to write about exchanging gifts with friends and family.

Key Notes

  • Circumlocution is an effective way to deepen word knowledge, making use of synonyms, antonyms or short descriptions.
  • Possessive adjectives follow the same pattern as indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine', 'ein', changing for gender and case.
  • The preposition 'für' ('for') is always followed by the accusative case; 'von' ('from') by the dative.
  • Dative verbs are always used with indirect object pronouns: 'mir', 'dir', 'ihm', 'ihr' - (to, for) me, you, him, her.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • circumlocution: descriptive phrase to define something without saying its exact name
  • für: preposition 'for', which is always followed by the accusative case
  • von: preposition 'from', which is always followed by the dative case
  • possessive adjective: word that goes before a noun to show ownership or belonging, e.g., my, your
  • dative verb: verb that is used with an indirect object pronoun

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • If we want to say 'her' in German, the word is always 'ihr'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

Circumlocution is an effective way to deepen word knowledge, making use of synonyms, antonyms or short descriptions. Possessive adjectives follow the same pattern as indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine', 'ein', changing for gender and case.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'circumlocution'

descriptive phrase to define something without saying its exact name. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: If we want to say 'her' in German, the word is always 'ihr'. Correction: After many verbs, the word for 'her' is 'sie'; same as the word for 'she', e.g., 'ich frage sie'. The word 'ihr' means 'her' after a dative verb, e.g., 'ich antworte ihr'. 'Ihr' is also the possessive adjective 'her', e.g., 'ihr Lieblingsgeschenk'.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 German guide library.