New
New
Year 8

Where I went: singular perfect tense 'sein' vs 'haben', 'mit' + dative

Learning outcomes

I can say where I went and how I got there, using the perfect tense with ‘sein’.

I can confidently and accurately read aloud words with short and long [a] and [o].

New
New
Year 8

Where I went: singular perfect tense 'sein' vs 'haben', 'mit' + dative

Learning outcomes

I can say where I went and how I got there, using the perfect tense with ‘sein’.

I can confidently and accurately read aloud words with short and long [a] and [o].

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. [a] and [o] are short when followed by two consonants, but long in other words.
  2. ‘Mit’ is used with an article in the dative to describe the manner in which a person travels, e.g., ‘mit dem Bus’.
  3. The perfect (past) tense is formed with three parts: subject, part of ‘haben’ or ‘sein’ and past participle.
  4. ‘Sein’ is used to form the perfect tense with past participles of verbs of movement to a destination.

Keywords

  • [a] - short and long sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as in ‘sagen’ and ‘kalt’

  • [o] - short and long sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as in ‘wo?’ and ‘Kopf’

  • Dative - case used after a dative preposition, e.g., ‘mit’ or ‘von’

  • Past participle - verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb

Common misconception

To talk about the past using the perfect tense, we always use the present tense of ‘haben’ with a past participle.

Some verbs require the present tense of ‘sein’ with a past participle when forming the past perfect tense. These are mostly verbs of movement to a destination, e.g., ‘fahren’ to travel, ‘fliegen’ to fly.


To help you plan your year 8 german lesson on: Where I went: singular perfect tense 'sein' vs 'haben', 'mit' + dative, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teachers may wish to exploit the focus on Poland by looking in more detail at where Poland is and some of its well-known cities with classes.
Teacher tip

Equipment

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

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 adjectives.
Correct Answer:spannend,exciting

exciting

Correct Answer:interessant,interesting

interesting

Correct Answer:wunderbar,wonderful

wonderful

Correct Answer:unmöglich,impossible

impossible

Correct Answer:notwendig,necessary

necessary

Q2.
'Am' ('an' + 'dem') is often used in expressions of time. Match up the German and the English.
Correct Answer:am Montag,on Monday

on Monday

Correct Answer:am Sonntag,on Sunday

on Sunday

Correct Answer:am Wochenende,at the weekend

at the weekend

Correct Answer:am Abend,in the evening

in the evening

Correct Answer:am Nachmittag,in the afternoon

in the afternoon

Q3.
Put the following words in the correct order to form a sentence in the perfect tense.
1 - ich
2 - habe
3 - ein
4 - Buch
5 - gekauft
Q4.
What is the missing word in the following definition? 'The past is the verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb.'
Correct Answer: participle
Q5.
Match up the pronouns with the correct forms of the verb 'to be' (sein).
Correct Answer:ich,bin

bin

Correct Answer:du,bist

bist

Correct Answer:er/sie/es,ist

ist

Correct Answer:wir,sind

sind

Correct Answer:ihr,seid

seid

Correct Answer:sie/Sie,sind

sind

Q6.
Which is the correct translation of the sentence 'I did a tour of the mosque.'?
Ich gemacht eine Tour von der Moschee.
Correct answer: Ich habe eine Tour von der Moschee gemacht.
Ich habe gemacht eine Tour von der Moschee.
Ich eine Tour von der Moschee gemacht habe.

4 Questions

Q1.
Fill in the missing word in this sentence: [a] and [o] are usually short when followed by two , but long in other words.
Correct Answer: consonants
Q2.
Which of the following is correct?
Correct answer: ‘Sein’ is used to form the perfect tense of verbs of movement to a destination.
The perfect (past) tense is always formed with part of ‘haben’,
The perfect (past) tense is always formed with part of 'sein'.
Q3.
Choose the correct translation of the following sentence: 'I travelled by bus.'.
Ich habe gefahren mit dem Bus.
Ich bin gefahren mit dem Bus
Correct answer: Ich bin mit dem Bus gefahren.
Ich sind mit dem Bus gefahren.
Ich habe mit dem Bus gefahren.
Q4.
Which of the following sentences correctly uses the dative case?
Ich bin mit das Flugzeug gefahren.
Ich bin mit das Schiff gefahren.
Ich bin mit der Flugzeug gefahren
Correct answer: Ich bin mit dem Flugzeug gefahren.

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