New
New
Year 8

Ask for spelling: the alphabet, nouns, articles and the accusative case

I can ask how to spell a word in German and distinguish between nominative articles with 'sein' and accusative articles with other verbs, and use them in speaking and writing.

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New
New
Year 8

Ask for spelling: the alphabet, nouns, articles and the accusative case

I can ask how to spell a word in German and distinguish between nominative articles with 'sein' and accusative articles with other verbs, and use them in speaking and writing.

Link copied to clipboard

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Ask 'Wie schreibt man das?' to ask how to spell a word in German.
  2. 'Wie heißt ...?' or 'Wie heißen ...?' (What is it/are they called?) are alternatives to 'Wie sagt man ...?'.
  3. Definite articles - 'der, die, das, die' - and indefinite articles - 'ein, eine, ein' - are used before nouns.
  4. The accusative case shows us the direct object in a sentence.
  5. Masculine articles change in the accusative case ('den; einen'). Feminine, neuter and plural articles do not change.

Keywords

  • Heißen - verb meaning 'to be called'

  • Article - word such as 'the' (der, die, das) or 'a' (ein, eine, ein) used before a noun

  • Accusative case - case used for the direct object in a sentence, after most verbs and some prepositions

Common misconception

The German alphabet has the same number of letters (26) as the English alphabet.

The German alphabet also includes the letters 'ä, ö, ü, ß' and so consists of 30 letters.


To help you plan your year 8 german lesson on: Ask for spelling: the alphabet, nouns, articles and the accusative case, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Students could practise the alphabet in pairs by playing Hangman.
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Licence

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).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German and the English.
Correct Answer:fahren,to drive, go (transport)

to drive, go (transport)

Correct Answer:lernen,to learn, learning

to learn, learning

Correct Answer:wohnen,to live, living

to live, living

Correct Answer:gehen,to go, going

to go, going

Correct Answer:ich weiß nicht,I don't know

I don't know

Correct Answer:nicht wahr,isn't it

isn't it

Q2.
Match the German and the English.
Correct Answer:der Herr,man, Mr

man, Mr

Correct Answer:die Hand,hand

hand

Correct Answer:das Fenster,window

window

Correct Answer:die Form,shape

shape

Correct Answer:die Frage,question

question

Correct Answer:das Haus,house

house

Q3.
Which of these is the correct description of the nominative case?
the case that is used to describe the object of a sentence
Correct answer: the case that is used to describe the subject of a sentence
the case that is used to describe the form of the verb
Q4.
Fill in the missing word in the following translation: 'I have a problem. This of shoes is unfortunately much too small.' ('Ich habe ein Problem. Dieses Paar Schuhe ist leider viel zu klein.').
Correct Answer: pair
Q5.
Put the words below into the correct order to make a question.
1 - Wie
2 - sagt
3 - man
4 - 'car'
5 - auf
6 - Deutsch
7 - ?
Q6.
Words for ‘the’ and ‘a’ change according to the grammatical of the noun.
Correct Answer: gender

4 Questions

Q1.
How many letters are there in the German alphabet?
26
28
Correct answer: 30
32
Q2.
Match the German to the English.
Correct Answer:der Teppich,rug

rug

Correct Answer:der Spiegel,mirror

mirror

Correct Answer:groß,big

big

Correct Answer:tschüs,bye

bye

Correct Answer:leider,unfortunately

unfortunately

Correct Answer:hier,here

here

Q3.
Which of these is the correct description of the accusative case?
the case that is used to describe the subject of a sentence
Correct answer: the case that is used for the direct object in a sentence
the case that is used to describe the form of the verb in a sentence
Q4.
Put the words below into the correct order to make a sentence.
1 - Wolfgang
2 - sucht
3 - den
4 - Hund

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