Fairy tales: diminutives, singular imperfect tense
Learning outcomes
I can use strong and weak verbs in the imperfect tense for storytelling.
I can recognise, say and write [ch] sounds in German, including in -chen diminutives.
Fairy tales: diminutives, singular imperfect tense
Learning outcomes
I can use strong and weak verbs in the imperfect tense for storytelling.
I can recognise, say and write [ch] sounds in German, including in -chen diminutives.
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Lesson details
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'.
To help you plan your year 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 year 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.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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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.
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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