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Year 9 - German

Make changes at home: prepositions and verbs of location and movement

Positive experiences: word order and prepositions

Unit Summary

This unit revisits a broad range of known grammar and vocabulary and introduces 'um...zu' +infinitive. New imperfect modals sollte and durfte are practised, together with further consolidation of Time-Manner-Place word order. Prepositions and cases for movement and location are consolidated.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to use verbs and prepositions correctly to talk about placing, moving and locating items in the context of changing things at home.

Key Notes

  • Short [u] is pronounced as in 'Punkt' and long [u] as in 'du'; short [ü] sounds as in 'fünf' and long [ü] as in 'Tür'.
  • Dual-case prepositions take the accusative case with movement and the dative case for location.
  • Three placement verbs 'stellen', 'setzen', 'legen' describe putting something somewhere, and take the accusative case.
  • Placement verbs can also be used reflexively for animate objects, when the sentence's subject and object are the same.
  • When items are already in position, we use equivalent position verbs 'stehen', 'sitzen' and 'liegen' with the dative.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • [u]: pronounced short as in 'Punkt' and long as in 'du'
  • [ü]: pronounced short as 'fünf' and long as in 'Tür'
  • dual-case preposition: preposition followed either by accusative to indicate movement or by dative to indicate location
  • placement verb: verb that describes putting something somewhere, taking the accusative case
  • position verb: verb that describes where something is

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • German has one general verb meaning 'to put, putting'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

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

Short [u] is pronounced as in 'Punkt' and long [u] as in 'du'; short [ü] sounds as in 'fünf' and long [ü] as in 'Tür'. Dual-case prepositions take the accusative case with movement and the dative case for location.

2. Define this key language word and use it in context. '[u]'

pronounced short as in 'Punkt' and long as in 'du'. Say or write it in a short sentence so you use the word actively.

3. Correct this common language-learning mistake.

Mistake: German has one general verb meaning 'to put, putting'. Correction: German has 3 placement verbs meaning 'to put'; 'stellen' - to make something stand (vertically), 'setzen' - to make something sit, and 'legen' - to make something lay down (horizontally). Equivalent position verbs are 'stehen', 'sitzen', 'liegen'.

More Lessons In This Unit

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