Fairy tales: diminutives, singular imperfect tense
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use strong and weak verbs in the imperfect tense for storytelling.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- Add suffix -chen or -lein to create diminutive nouns with the English equivalent meaning ‘little’.
- Use the imperfect tense in German to narrate past events, mainly in writing.
- Singular weak imperfect verbs add -te to the stem for ‘ich’ and ‘er, sie, es’ and an additional -st for the ‘du’ form.
- Strong verbs have an irregular stem including a vowel change, and don’t add -te; ‘du’ forms add -st to the stem.
Keywords
Diminutive - word form for a smaller, cuter version of something, made by adding to or modifying the original word
-chen, -lein - noun suffix creating diminutive nouns with the English equivalent meaning ‘little’, e.g., 'Haus' → 'Häuschen', 'Tisch' → 'Tischlein'
Imperfect - German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; e.g., 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'
Strong verb (imperfect) - forms the imperfect by changing the stem vowel, without the -te ending ('ich', 'er', 'sie', 'es'), but with -st ending ('du')
Common misconception
Make the imperfect stem of strong verbs just by removing -en and changing the stem vowel.
Many strong verbs form their imperfect stem in this way: 'lesen' - 'las', 'geben', 'gab'. Other verbs have other small changes too: 'kommen' - 'kam', 'essen' - 'aß'. Others are more irregular: 'gehen' - 'ging', 'sein' - 'war', 'haben' - 'hatte'.
Teacher tip
Search ‘Simple German fairy tales’ for several excellent German story websites, some with audio and transcripts. For example, the national German broadcaster NDR has 12 tales retold in the present tense, which provide an excellent source for pupils to practise transposing into the imperfect tense.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Order the months from earliest to latest.
Q2.Match the German and English.
fear
year
help
nature
protection
environment
Q3.Match the German and English.
to threaten, threatening
to fall asleep
to originate, develop
to jump, jumping
to say, saying
to meet, meeting
Q4.Order the words to say: 'I had to take an apple with me.'
Q5.Write in English: 'du wolltest schlafen'.
Q6.Write in German: 'I stay awake'.
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Which of these verbs form their imperfect stem by removing -en and changing the stem vowel?
Q2.Match the German and English.
litte dog, puppy
little cat, kitten
little table
little book
little castle
little star
Q3.Order the words to say: 'He went to the cinema and you went to the theatre.'
Q4.Write in German: 'I played'. Use the imperfect tense.
To help you plan your 9 German lesson on: Fairy tales: diminutives, singular imperfect tense, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 German lesson on: Fairy tales: diminutives, singular imperfect tense, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 German lessons from the Storytelling: imperfect tense unit, dive into the full secondary German curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.