Year 9 - German
Famous German speakers: 'bevor' and 'nachdem', word order
Past lives: perfect and imperfect tenses
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit revisits past tenses. The perfect tense is consolidated as variations on past participle formation are practised. The imperfect tense (war, hatte, es gab) is revisited, with question formation and word order 3 conjunctions. Pupils learn how to say calendar years in German.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to recognise links between nouns and verbs, form the plural of feminine person nouns and use 'bevor' and 'nachdem' to link sentences.
Key Notes
- When faced with unfamiliar words, use your previous knowledge to identify noun-verb pairs, e.g., 'die Feier' - 'feiern'.
- Add -nen to all feminine person nouns ending -in to form their plurals (plural rule six).
- The sound-symbol correspondence [r] is formed at the back of the throat, barely moving the lips, e.g., 'Autorin'.
- The conjunction 'bevor' means 'before' and sends the verb to the end of the clause (word order three).
- The conjunction 'nachdem' means 'after' and sends the verb to the end of the clause (word order three).
Vocabulary To Learn
- plural rule six: add -nen to all feminine person nouns ending -in, e.g., 'Lehrerinnen'
- bevor: conjunction meaning 'before', which triggers word order three
- nachdem: conjunction meaning 'after', which triggers word order three
- word order three (WO3): after certain conjunctions, the verb is sent to the end of the sentence or clause
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- All conjunctions send the verb to the end of the clause.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain what you can now say or understand in this lesson.
When faced with unfamiliar words, use your previous knowledge to identify noun-verb pairs, e.g., 'die Feier' - 'feiern'. Add -nen to all feminine person nouns ending -in to form their plurals (plural rule six).
2. Define this key language word and use it in context. 'plural rule six'
add -nen to all feminine person nouns ending -in, e.g., 'Lehrerinnen'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.
3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.
Mistake: All conjunctions send the verb to the end of the clause. Correction: Not all conjunctions send the verb to the end of the clause. For example, 'und' and 'denn' use word order one (standard word order). They are called co-ordinating conjunctions.
More Lessons In This Unit
- Childhood experiences: nouns, past tense, conjunctions Study Guide
- Famous lives: 'als' as 'when' with the past tense Study Guide
- What did they do then? Perfect, imperfect 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', compound nouns Study Guide
- What you used to do: perfect tense with 'ihr' (you, familiar pl.) and 'früher' Study Guide
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