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Year 8 - German

Opinions: verbs with indirect objects

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 understand likes and dislikes and other opinions using verbs with direct and indirect objects.

Key Notes

  • Combining previously taught and new words in new contexts strengthens vocabulary knowledge.
  • Indirect objects are people or things that the verb action is done 'to' or 'for', e.g., 'the book belongs to the pupil'.
  • Indirect object pronouns replace indirect objects that we don't need to repeat, e.g., 'the book belongs to him/her'.
  • Verbs that are always used with indirect object pronouns are called dative verbs.
  • Some dative verbs translate differently into English - 'das Buch gefällt mir' - the book pleases me > I like the book.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • indirect object pronoun (IOP): replaces the person, people or thing(s) that the verb action is done to, when the action is to me, for you
  • dative verb: verb that is used with an indirect object (pronoun)

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • There is one verb meaning 'to like' in German, and that is 'mögen'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

Combining previously taught and new words in new contexts strengthens vocabulary knowledge. Indirect objects are people or things that the verb action is done 'to' or 'for', e.g., 'the book belongs to the pupil'.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'indirect object pronoun (IOP)'

replaces the person, people or thing(s) that the verb action is done to, when the action is to me, for you. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: There is one verb meaning 'to like' in German, and that is 'mögen'. Correction: 'Mögen' is 'to like', e.g., 'ich mag Mathe' ('I like maths'). However, 'gefallen' is another verb for expressing 'liking'. Its literal meaning is 'to please', so it's used with an indirect object, e.g., 'Mathe gefällt mir' - 'I like maths'.

More Lessons In This Unit

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