Study Hub

Study Guides

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

Back to Study HubBrowse Year 8 German Guides

Year 8 - German

This summer: perfect tense weak verbs 1st person singular, 'in' (dative)

Holidays: present and past, perfect tense with 'haben'

Unit Summary

This unit provides pupils with the knowledge to form the German perfect tense with 'haben' and past participles for weak and some strong verbs. Pupils learn how to form questions in the perfect tense and two options for translating the German perfect tense into English.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use past and present tenses, time adverbials and location to talk and write about holiday experiences in German.

Key Notes

  • The past participle comes at the end of a sentence in the perfect tense.
  • Time adverbials with adjectives use the accusative case.
  • Time adverbials at the beginning of the sentence trigger word order 2.
  • Describing location requires the dative.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • past participle: the form of a verb used in the past (perfect) tense; for example, 'I have done'
  • time adverbial: a word or group of words that modify the time frame of a verb; for example, 'last week', 'this month'
  • accusative: word endings used, for example, in time adverbials: 'letzten Sommer', 'diese Woche'
  • dative: word endings used, for example, after prepositions of location: 'in einem Park', 'in der Stadt'

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • There is no change in word order after time adverbials.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

The past participle comes at the end of a sentence in the perfect tense. Time adverbials with adjectives use the accusative case.

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

the form of a verb used in the past (perfect) tense; for example, 'I have done'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: There is no change in word order after time adverbials. Correction: Practise short examples with and without time adverbials, and use cards (or the pupils themselves) to move to demonstrate word order 2 with time adverbials at beginning of sentences.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 8 German guide library.