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      A charity concert: past participles, verb stress, 'kein' vs 'nicht'

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can use weak and strong past participles and negation correctly in the context of planning a charity event.

      Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

      Key learning points

      1. Past participles of weak verbs sandwich the stem between ge- and -t; verbs with inseparable prefixes don't add ge-.
      2. Past participles of strong verbs sandwich the stem between ge- and -en; the stem vowel may change: 'singen', 'gesungen'.
      3. The prefix 'mit' adds the meaning of 'taking part', or 'doing with' to verbs, e.g., 'mitmachen' - 'to join in'.
      4. 1st syllable stress is common in German; words with inseparable prefixes stress the 2nd syllable, -ieren verbs the -ie.
      5. 'Kein' (no, not any) negates nouns with indefinite articles, with 'ein' endings; 'nicht' (not) negates everything else.

      Keywords

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

      • Mit - preposition 'with', also a verb prefix adding the meaning of participation or 'doing with'

      • Stress - pronouncing one syllable more heavily than other syllables in a word

      • Kein - article 'no, not any' that negates nouns preceded by an indefinite article

      • Nicht - adverb 'not' that negates everything except nouns with an indefinite article

      Common misconception

      German verbs always stress the same syllable.

      Generally German infinitive verbs stress the first syllable; however, words starting with inseparable prefixes be-, er-, ge-, ver-, ent- stress the 2nd syllable, which includes most past participles; -ieren verbs stress the 'ie' in present and past.

      Teacher tip

      This lesson includes all key GCSE past participle patterns. Regular recall of high-frequency forms at the start or end of any lesson builds fluency - try playing music (without words is best) and challenging pupils to list as many past participles as they can before it stops.

      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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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which word is not a translation of 'vor'?

      ago
      before
      Correct answer: for
      in front of

      Q2.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:gegeben,gave, (have, has) given

      gave, (have, has) given

      Correct Answer:geholfen,(have, has) helped

      (have, has) helped

      Correct Answer:gesprochen,spoke, (have, has) spoken

      spoke, (have, has) spoken

      Correct Answer:gesungen,sang, (have, has) sung

      sang, (have, has) sung

      Correct Answer:gesehen,saw, (have, has) seen

      saw, (have, has) seen

      Correct Answer:gesammelt,(have, has) collected

      (have, has) collected

      Q3.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:Butterbrot (nt),sandwich

      sandwich

      Correct Answer:Geschichte (f),story, history

      story, history

      Correct Answer:Karte (f),card, map, menu, ticket

      card, map, menu, ticket

      Correct Answer:Frau (f),woman

      woman

      Correct Answer:König (m),king

      king

      Correct Answer:Orchester (nt),orchestra

      orchestra

      Q4.
      Order the words to say: 'The school is near to the town centre.'

      1 - der
      2 - Wald
      3 - ist
      4 - ganz
      5 - nah
      6 - am
      7 - Dorf

      Q5.
      Write in English: 'diese Sachen waren interessant'.

      Correct Answer: these things were interesting

      Q6.
      Write in German: 'there are lots of classes'.

      Correct Answer: es gibt viele Klassen

      4 Questions

      Q1.
      Which words stress the second syllable?

      Correct answer: gesungen
      mitmachen
      mitgemacht
      organisieren
      Correct answer: vergessen

      Q2.
      Order the words to say: 'Yesterday I didn't bring any money with me.'

      1 - gestern
      2 - habe
      3 - ich
      4 - kein
      5 - Geld
      6 - mitgebracht

      Q3.
      Write in German: 'I didn't eat an ice cream'.

      Correct Answer: ich habe kein Eis gegessen

      Q4.
      Write in German: 'I didn't phone Wolf'.

      Correct Answer: ich habe Wolf nicht angerufen

      To help you plan your 9 German lesson on: A charity concert: past participles, verb stress, 'kein' vs 'nicht', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...