New
New
Year 9

Storytelling: pronouns 'du', 'ihr', 'Sie', object word order

I can understand and correctly use the different forms of 'you' in German and use verbs with direct and indirect objects in the context of a modern fairy tale.

New
New
Year 9

Storytelling: pronouns 'du', 'ihr', 'Sie', object word order

I can understand and correctly use the different forms of 'you' in German and use verbs with direct and indirect objects in the context of a modern fairy tale.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. To say 'you' in German, use 'du' (singular) or 'Sie' (formal) or 'ihr' (plural informal) or 'man' (you, one or people).
  2. In a sentence with two object nouns, the indirect object (dative) always comes first.
  3. Identify the indirect object in a sentence by asking 'to/for whom'?' something is done and looking for dative articles.

Keywords

  • Ihr - pronoun meaning you (all), used for more than one person that you address by their first name

  • Indirect object - the person, people or thing(s) that the verb action is done to or for, taking the dative case in German

Common misconception

'You’ in German is just one word.

German has four different words for 'you', depending on who you're talking to: 'du' – informal, singular; 'ihr' - informal, plural; 'Sie' - formal, singular; 'man' - people in general, one.


To help you plan your year 9 German lesson on: Storytelling: pronouns 'du', 'ihr', 'Sie', object word order, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teachers might choose to extend the theme of this lesson, setting pupils the task of writing a short fairy tale; pupils could choose to write a completely original story or take a well-known fairy tale and change some detail, including the ending.
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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).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
'Er ist __________ zu Hause.'. Choose the correct missing word.

an
als
nein
Correct answer: wohl
wie

Q2.
Match the German and English.

Correct Answer:Arm (m),arm

arm

Correct Answer:Blatt (nt),leaf

leaf

Correct Answer:Leben (nt),life

life

Correct Answer:Milliarde (f),billion

billion

Correct Answer:Wand (f),wall

wall

Correct Answer:Wohnung (f),flat, apartment

flat, apartment

Q3.
Order the words to say: 'The father is waiting for the son.'

1 - der
2 - Vater
3 - wartet
4 - auf
5 - den
6 - Sohn

Q4.
Order the words to say: 'A kind king has a kind dog.'

1 - ein
2 - lieber
3 - König
4 - hat
5 - einen
6 - lieben
7 - Hund

Q5.
Write in English: 'es ist ein neues Gesetz'.

Correct Answer: it is a new law, it's a new law

Q6.
Write in German: 'there is a lot of data'.

Correct Answer: es gibt viele Daten

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Match the pronouns and verbs.

Correct Answer:du,führst

führst

Correct Answer:man,schützt

schützt

Correct Answer:ihr,seid

seid

Correct Answer:Sie,scheinen

scheinen

Q2.
'Der Sohn schickt der Tochter die Nachricht.'. What is the indirect object?

the son
Correct answer: the daughter
the message
we can't tell

Q3.
Order the words to say: 'I give the letter to the guest.'

1 - ich
2 - gebe
3 - dem
4 - Gast
5 - den
6 - Brief

Q4.
You are talking to your elderly neighbour. Write in German: 'you are friendly'.

Correct Answer: Sie sind freundlich

Additional material

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