Year 8 - German
What makes me happy: adjective agreement, read and respond to a poem in writing
Who am I? Adjective agreement, 'weil' and 'denn'
Study Hub
Study Guides
This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit introduces prenominal adjective agreement in nominative and accusative cases. It equips pupils with the knowledge to describe themselves and others in more detail. It will also analyse how to vary giving reasons with 'denn' (word order 1) or 'weil' (word order 3).
Lesson Summary
You will learn to read and understand a German poem about things that make you happy, and use adjectives before nouns and verbs as nouns when writing your own poem.
Key Notes
- When adjectives come before nouns, they have different endings for definite and indefinite articles.
- For plural nominative nouns, add '-en' to all adjectives with definite articles; without an article, the ending is '-e'.
- When singular nouns are used without an article, the adjective ending is the same as for the indefinite article.
- Many verb infinitives can make neuter nouns; this is called nominalisation.
- Knowledge of vocabulary and structures makes it possible to understand a poem and respond to it creatively in writing.
Vocabulary To Learn
- plural: more than one
- adjective agreement: when the ending of an adjective matches the noun it describes in gender and number
- nominalisation: making nouns from other types of words, e.g., infinitive verbs
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Verbs are always verbs and nouns are always nouns.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
When adjectives come before nouns, they have different endings for definite and indefinite articles. For plural nominative nouns, add '-en' to all adjectives with definite articles; without an article, the ending is '-e'.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'plural'
more than one. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: Verbs are always verbs and nouns are always nouns. Correction: Sometimes words of one type can be used as another type. For example, 'ich mag das Schwimmen' (I like swimming) is the verb 'schwimmen' used as a noun. When used as nouns, verbs have a gender (neuter), the article 'das' and a capital letter.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Appearance: adjective agreement (accusative) Study Guide
- Describe others: adjective agreement (accusative), female person nouns with -in Study Guide
- Explain likes and dislikes: 'weil' vs 'denn', word order after 'weil' Study Guide
- Opinions and reasons: 'weil' vs 'denn', word order after 'weil' Study Guide
- Things I like: nominative adjective agreement, definite and indefinite articles Study Guide
Browse all guides in the Year 8 German guide library.