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Englisch lernen: haben, present tense weak verbs, negation with nicht and kein

I can use present tense weak verbs, 'nicht' and 'kein' to talk about learning a language.

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Englisch lernen: haben, present tense weak verbs, negation with nicht and kein

I can use present tense weak verbs, 'nicht' and 'kein' to talk about learning a language.

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Share activities with pupils

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Nominative case is for nouns with sein, heißen and werden; accusative case is for object nouns with all other verbs.
  2. The verb 'haben' is irregular.
  3. Present tense weak verbs are formed like 'lernen'.
  4. 'Nicht' negates before the definite article (meaning 'not the'), adjectives, possessives, proper nouns and after verbs.
  5. For negation before nouns, 'kein' replaces the indefinite article to mean 'not a', 'no'.

Keywords

  • Nominative - the case used for the subject of a sentence

  • Accusative - the case used for the object of a sentence

  • Nicht - the adverb 'not', which negates the definite article ‘the’

  • Kein - the negative determiner 'not a', 'no', that replaces the indefinite article ‘a/an’ before nouns

Common misconception

'Nicht' means 'not' when negating in all German sentences.

'Nicht' negates in many sentences, but 'kein' replaces the indefinite article 'a/an' to negate nouns. For example, 'I have no car', and 'I haven't got a car' are both 'Ich habe kein Auto' in German.

Give plentiful examples of negative sentences with 'nicht' or 'kein' in the classroom, and encourage pupils to create their own examples in regular classroom conversation and across other contexts.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match these German words to their English meanings.
Correct Answer:die Gegenwart,present

present

Correct Answer:die Vergangenheit,past

past

Correct Answer:der Sinn,sense, meaning

sense, meaning

Correct Answer:unterrichten,to teach, teaching

to teach, teaching

Correct Answer:deutlich,clear, clearly

clear, clearly

Correct Answer:der Ton,tone, sound

tone, sound

Q2.
Which of the following words are masculine?
Frage
Hobby
Correct answer: Unterschied
Correct answer: Ausdruck
Correct answer: Artikel
Q3.
Put the words below in the correct order to complete this sentence: 'The definite article in English is '__________'. In German, the definite article matches the '__________' of the '__________'.'
1 - the
2 - gender
3 - noun
Q4.
Match the articles below to the correct English definitions.
Correct Answer:der, die, das, die,definite articles, nominative case

definite articles, nominative case

Correct Answer:den, die, das, die,definite articles, accusative case

definite articles, accusative case

Correct Answer:ein, eine, ein,indefinite articles, nominative case

indefinite articles, nominative case

Correct Answer:einen, eine, ein,indefinite articles, accusative case

indefinite articles, accusative case

Q5.
Complete this sentence: 'The subject in German uses the __________ case and the object uses the __________ case. The verbs __________, __________, __________ always takes the __________ case.'
1 - nominative
2 - accusative
3 - sein
4 - heißen
5 - werden
Q6.
Order the indefinite articles to complete this sentence: 'Das ist __________ Hobby (n). Ich habe online __________ Website (f) über das Deutschlernen gefunden. Das macht __________ Unterschied (m).'
1 - ein
2 - eine
3 - einen

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the following English words to their German meanings.
Correct Answer:meaning, significance,die Bedeutung

die Bedeutung

Correct Answer:row, line,die Reihe

die Reihe

Correct Answer:tone,der Ton

der Ton

Correct Answer:sudden, suddenly,plötzlich

plötzlich

Correct Answer:near,nah, nahe

nah, nahe

Correct Answer:not at all,gar nicht

gar nicht

Q2.
The nominative case is always used after which of the following verbs?
Correct answer: sein
haben
Correct answer: werden
machen
Correct answer: heißen
Q3.
Which statement below correctly defines the use of the accusative case?
The accusative is used after all verbs.
Correct answer: The accusative is used after 'haben' and most other verbs.
The accusative is used after all verbs except 'sein' and 'heißen'.
The accusative is used after all verbs except 'werden'.
Q4.
Match these uses of 'nicht' to the appropriate rules for using 'nicht'.
Correct Answer:Das Auto ist nicht rot.,use 'nicht' before an adjective

use 'nicht' before an adjective

Correct Answer:Das ist nicht die Antwort. ,use 'nicht' before a definite article

use 'nicht' before a definite article

Correct Answer:Nein, das ist nicht Paula.,use 'nicht' before a proper noun

use 'nicht' before a proper noun

Correct Answer:Ich verstehe das Wort nicht. ,use 'nicht' after a verb or clause

use 'nicht' after a verb or clause

Q5.
'Kein' is used instead of the article to mean 'not a' or 'no'.
Correct Answer: indefinite
Q6.
Correctly order the words below to complete this sentence: 'Das macht __________ Unterschied (m)! Wenn man __________ Fremdsprache (f) hat, ist es ___________ einfach, im Ausland zu arbeiten.'
1 - keinen
2 - keine
3 - nicht

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Lesson appears in

UnitGerman / People and lifestyle: sprichst du Deutsch?

AQAGerman

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EdexcelGerman

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