Year 9 - German
Der Rattenfänger: understanding a Grimm brothers' fairy tale, imperfect tense
Storytelling: imperfect tense
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 the imperfect (simple past) tense of regular and highly frequent irregular verbs in singular persons.Da- compounds are revisited along with the perfect tense and the historic present in the narration of a story.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to understand a Grimms brothers' fairy tale and respond to it using perfect and present tenses.
Key Notes
- Use the imperfect tense in German to narrate past events, mainly in writing.
- Singular weak imperfect verbs add -te to the stem for 'ich' and 'er, sie, es' and an additional -st for the 'du' form.
- Strong verbs have an irregular stem including a vowel change, and don't add -te; 'du' forms add -st to the stem.
- Oral retelling of fairy tales can be done in the perfect tense; simpler versions can be written in the present tense.
Vocabulary To Learn
- imperfect: German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; e.g., 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'
- weak verb (imperfect): forms the imperfect by adding -te to the stem ('ich', 'er', 'sie', 'es') and -test ('du')
- strong verb (imperfect): forms the imperfect by changing the stem vowel, without the -te ending ('ich', 'er', 'sie', 'es'), but with -st ending ('du')
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- The only versions of Grimm brothers' fairy tales that exist are written in the imperfect tense.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
Use the imperfect tense in German to narrate past events, mainly in writing. Singular weak imperfect verbs add -te to the stem for 'ich' and 'er, sie, es' and an additional -st for the 'du' form.
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'imperfect'
German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; e.g., 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: The only versions of Grimm brothers' fairy tales that exist are written in the imperfect tense. Correction: There are many versions of the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. Many are written in the imperfect tense but there are also simpler, modern adaptations written in the present or perfect tenses, especially in children's books.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 9 German guide library.