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      Compare school experiences: possessive adjectives 'unser' and 'ihr'

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can use possessive adjectives 'unser' and 'ihr' to describe school experiences for different people.

      Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

      Key learning points

      1. [er] is usually stressed when it's part of the first syllable of a word or a single syllable word e.g. Herz, er, lernen.
      2. [er] is most often unstressed when it is is at the end of a word e.g. Bruder.
      3. Adding the suffix -heit to certain (though not all) adjectives creates nouns, usually meaning adjective + -ity or -ness.
      4. 'Unser' and 'ihr' are possessive adjectives; 'unser' means 'our' and 'ihr' means 'their'.
      5. Possessive adjectives 'unser' and 'ihr' change their spelling to agree with gender of the noun and the case.

      Keywords

      • Suffix - a letter or group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning or how it is used, e.g. '-heit'

      • Possessive adjective - word that goes before a noun to show ownership or belonging

      Common misconception

      There is only one word in German for 'our' and 'their', just like in English.

      Possessive adjectives like 'unser' and 'ihr' change the spelling according to the gender of the noun and the case that is needed e.g. 'unser Hund', 'unsere Katze'; 'ihr Vater', 'ihre Mutter'.

      Teacher tip

      Speaking Task D3 requires students to work in pairs. For each stage (there are two to allow both partners to do both roles), one student needs to be facing away from the board before showing the task slide.

      Equipment

      A mini whiteboard and pen, together with pen and paper for taking notes, would be useful, if available.

      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

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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which of the following words is a verb?

      Stimme
      Correct answer: wandern
      Musik
      teuer

      Q2.
      Match the German possessive adjective to the correct English meaning.

      Correct Answer:mein,my
      Correct Answer:dein,your (informal)
      Correct Answer:sein,his
      Correct Answer:ihr,her

      Q3.
      Put the words in the correct order to make a sentence in the present tense. Start with 'ich'

      1 - ich
      2 - höre
      3 - gern
      4 - Musik

      Q4.
      Put this sentence in order. Start with 'ich'

      1 - wir
      2 - haben
      3 - ein
      4 - Bild
      5 - gesehen

      Q5.
      What does 'ihm' mean in this sentence? Ich gebe ihm ein Bild.

      Correct Answer: him, to him

      Q6.
      Match the German word to its English meaning.

      Correct Answer:lieber,rather
      Correct Answer:statt,instead of
      Correct Answer:besonders,particularly
      Correct Answer:mehr,more

      5 Questions

      Q1.
      Match the German words to their English meanings.

      Correct Answer:erklären,to explain, explaining
      Correct Answer:erlauben,to allow, allowing
      Correct Answer:erzählen,to tell, telling
      Correct Answer:gegeben,gave, given
      Correct Answer:Geschichte (f),history, story
      Correct Answer:Wahrheit (f),truth

      Q2.
      Match each German word to its English meaning.

      Correct Answer:unser,our
      Correct Answer:ihr,their
      Correct Answer:alleine,alone
      Correct Answer:jedoch,however
      Correct Answer:ohne,without

      Q3.
      In which word is the syllable [er] most likely to be stressed?

      Bruder
      Correct answer: erklären
      Lehrer
      Mutter

      Q4.
      Add the correct suffix to the adjective 'wahr' (which means true) to turn it into the noun meaning 'truth'.

      Correct Answer: Wahrheit, heit

      Q5.
      There is only one word in German for 'our', just like in English. True or false?

      Correct Answer: false, f, falsch

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