New
New
Year 9

Make changes at home: prepositions and verbs of location and movement

Learning outcomes

I can use verbs and prepositions correctly to talk about placing, moving and locating items in the context of changing things at home.

I can distinguish betweeen [u] and [ü] and pronounce both accurately.

New
New
Year 9

Make changes at home: prepositions and verbs of location and movement

Learning outcomes

I can use verbs and prepositions correctly to talk about placing, moving and locating items in the context of changing things at home.

I can distinguish betweeen [u] and [ü] and pronounce both accurately.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Short [u] is pronounced as in 'Punkt' and long [u] as in 'du'; short [ü] sounds as in 'fünf' and long [ü] as in 'Tür'.
  2. Dual-case prepositions take the accusative case with movement and the dative case for location.
  3. Three placement verbs ‘stellen’, ‘setzen’, ‘legen’ describe putting something somewhere, and take the accusative case.
  4. Placement verbs can also be used reflexively for animate objects, when the sentence's subject and object are the same.
  5. When items are already in position, we use equivalent position verbs 'stehen', 'sitzen' and 'liegen' with the dative.

Keywords

  • [u] - pronounced short as in 'Punkt' and long as in 'du'

  • [ü] - pronounced short as 'fünf' and long as in 'Tür'

  • Dual-case preposition - preposition followed either by accusative to indicate movement or by dative to indicate location

  • Placement verb - verb that describes putting something somewhere, taking the accusative case

  • Position verb - verb that describes where something is

Common misconception

German has one general verb meaning 'to put, putting'.

German has 3 placement verbs meaning 'to put'; 'stellen' - to make something stand (vertically), 'setzen' - to make something sit, and 'legen' - to make something lay down (horizontally). Equivalent position verbs are 'stehen', 'sitzen', 'liegen'.


To help you plan your year 9 German lesson on: Make changes at home: prepositions and verbs of location and movement, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teachers may find it useful to demonstrate and practise placement and position verbs using real objects, as this revises and reinforces the concept. Task D3 can be adapted and personalised for learners of all levels.
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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

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which word means 'at least'?

manchmal
meistens
Correct answer: mindestens
einige
einmal

Q2.
Match the German and English.

Correct Answer:Freude (f),joy

joy

Correct Answer:Gedicht (nt),poem

poem

Correct Answer:Risiko (nt),risk

risk

Correct Answer:Sprache (f),language

language

Correct Answer:Syrien (nt),Syria

Syria

Correct Answer:Weg (m),path, way

path, way

Q3.
Match the German and English.

Correct Answer:Geist (m),mind, spirit

mind, spirit

Correct Answer:Stuhl (m),chair

chair

Correct Answer:Lampe (f),lamp

lamp

Correct Answer:Leistung (f),performance

performance

Correct Answer:Pflicht (f),duty

duty

Correct Answer:Sicherheit (f),security, safety

security, safety

Q4.
Match the German and English.

Correct Answer:entwickeln,to develop, developing

to develop, developing

Correct Answer:hoffen,to hope, hoping

to hope, hoping

Correct Answer:hängen,to hang, hanging

to hang, hanging

Correct Answer:schließen,to close, closing

to close, closing

Correct Answer:üben,to practise, practising

to practise, practising

Correct Answer:übersetzen,to translate, translating

to translate, translating

Q5.
Order the words to say: 'There is neither food nor drinks.'

1 - es
2 - gibt
3 - weder
4 - Essen
5 - noch
6 - Getränke

Q6.
Write in German: 'the music was too loud'.

Correct Answer: die Musik war zu laut

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Match the words to their missing sounds.

Correct Answer:H_nd,short [u]

short [u]

Correct Answer:St_hl,long [u]

long [u]

Correct Answer:W_rste,short [ü]

short [ü]

Correct Answer:m_de,long [ü]

long [ü]

Q2.
Which verbs mean 'to put, putting'?

Correct answer: setzen
sitzen
Correct answer: stellen
stehen
Correct answer: legen

Q3.
Order the words to say: 'I put the plant on the table.'

1 - ich
2 - stelle
3 - die
4 - Pflanze
5 - auf
6 - den
7 - Tisch

Q4.
Write in German: 'the cat lies on the bed'.

Correct Answer: die Katze liegt auf dem Bett

Additional material

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