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

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

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

      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'.

      Teacher tip

      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.

      Licence

      This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), 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 means 'at least'?

      manchmal
      meistens
      Correct answer: mindestens
      einige
      einmal

      Q2.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:Freude (f),joy
      Correct Answer:Gedicht (nt),poem
      Correct Answer:Risiko (nt),risk
      Correct Answer:Sprache (f),language
      Correct Answer:Syrien (nt),Syria
      Correct Answer:Weg (m),path, way

      Q3.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:Geist (m),mind, spirit
      Correct Answer:Stuhl (m),chair
      Correct Answer:Lampe (f),lamp
      Correct Answer:Leistung (f),performance
      Correct Answer:Pflicht (f),duty
      Correct Answer:Sicherheit (f),security, safety

      Q4.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:entwickeln,to develop, developing
      Correct Answer:hoffen,to hope, hoping
      Correct Answer:hängen,to hang, hanging
      Correct Answer:schließen,to close, closing
      Correct Answer:üben,to practise, practising
      Correct Answer:übersetzen,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

      4 Questions

      Q1.
      Match the words to their missing sounds.

      Correct Answer:H_nd,short [u]
      Correct Answer:St_hl,long [u]
      Correct Answer:W_rste,short [ü]
      Correct Answer:m_de,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

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