New
New
What is it? 'Was' and 'sagen'
Learning outcomes
I can use the question word ‘Was?’ and the verb 'sagen' to ask what something is and identify what someone says.
I can pronounce short and long [e] correctly.
Lesson 3 of 9
New
New
- Year 7
What is it? 'Was' and 'sagen'
Learning outcomes
I can use the question word ‘Was?’ and the verb 'sagen' to ask what something is and identify what someone says.
I can pronounce short and long [e] correctly.
Lesson details
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- [e] can be either short (followed by 2 consonants) or long (followed by a single consonant, double vowel or 'h').
- The question word 'Was ...?' meaning 'What ...?' is used to identify things.
- The verb 'sagen' means 'to say, to tell' in the infinitive and its short form 'sagt' means 'says, tells'.
Keywords
[e] - pronounced [e] as in 'denken' and [e] as in 'geben'
Was? - What?
Verb - a word that communicates actions or states
Common misconception
All German verbs end in -en.
Verbs have different forms (endings) depending on the subject. Long form ends in -en and short form ends in -t.
Giving a notional time for short speaking tasks is a useful way to encourage pupils to speed up mental processing and increase spoken fluency.
Teacher tip
Equipment
Licence
This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).
Lesson video
Loading...
Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.When is a vowel short?
When is a vowel short?
when it is followed by one consonant
when it is followed by the letter ‘h’
Q2.What type of nouns have a capital letter in German?
What type of nouns have a capital letter in German?
proper nouns like the names of people or countries
common nouns like 'table' or 'bottle'
Q3.What do 'der', 'die' and 'das' all mean?
What do 'der', 'die' and 'das' all mean?
Q4.Match these German nouns to their English meanings.
Match these German nouns to their English meanings.
Q5.Put these parts of a sentence in the correct order to form a German sentence. The first word in this sentence has not been capitalised.
Put these parts of a sentence in the correct order to form a German sentence. The first word in this sentence has not been capitalised.
Q6.Put these parts of a sentence in the correct order to form a German sentence. The first word in this sentence has not been capitalised.
Put these parts of a sentence in the correct order to form a German sentence. The first word in this sentence has not been capitalised.
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.In which of these words is the [e] a long sound?
In which of these words is the [e] a long sound?
denken
besser
Q2.In which of these words is the [e] a short sound?
In which of these words is the [e] a short sound?
Leben
mehr
Q3.Does 'wo' or 'was' best fit in the gap in the following sentence? ' sagt Frau Bell?'
Does 'wo' or 'was' best fit in the gap in the following sentence? ' sagt Frau Bell?'
Q4.What does 'sagen' mean?
What does 'sagen' mean?
tells
says
Q5.What does 'sagt' mean?
What does 'sagt' mean?
to say
to tell
Q6.Match these German words to their English meanings.
Match these German words to their English meanings.
