Rechte: perfect tense, simple past, 'seit' vs 'vor'
I can use the simple past and perfect tenses and 'seit' and 'vor' to understand the historical context and recent changes relating to international human rights.
- Year 11
- AQA
Rechte: perfect tense, simple past, 'seit' vs 'vor'
I can use the simple past and perfect tenses and 'seit' and 'vor' to understand the historical context and recent changes relating to international human rights.
Lesson details
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- The perfect tense uses the present tense of 'sein' or 'haben' plus a past participle, and is used in speech and writing.
- The single-verb simple past or imperfect tense in German is used most often to narrate past events in writing.
- 'Seit', with dative and present tense, expresses an unfinished action started in the past. It can mean ‘since’ or ‘for'.
- 'Vor' + length of time is used with past tense to say how long ago something happened. Use the dative case.
- These structures provide a framework for discussing the history and developments in international human rights.
Keywords
Perfect tense - a past tense formed with the present tense of 'sein' or 'haben' and a past participle
Simple past or imperfect tense - German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing, e.g., 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'
Seit - preposition meaning 'since' or 'for' followed by the dative case
Vor - preposition meaning ‘ago’ followed by the dative case
Common misconception
The perfect tense is used only in speaking and the simple past only in writing.
The perfect tense can be used in informal writing and to describe a past event which has relevance to the present. The simple past is normally for writing, but 'war', 'hatte', 'gab' and modal verbs ('musste', 'wollte') are commonly used in speech.
Equipment
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is the Vienna International Film Festival called in German?
Q2.Match the German and English.
Q3.Match the German and English.
