New
New
Year 11
AQA

Hilf der Umwelt! Imperative 'du', 'ihr', 'Sie'

I can understand and use informal and formal imperatives for giving instructions, directions, and advice in the context of helping the environment.

New
New
Year 11
AQA

Hilf der Umwelt! Imperative 'du', 'ihr', 'Sie'

I can understand and use informal and formal imperatives for giving instructions, directions, and advice in the context of helping the environment.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Imperative verbs are used to give instructions, directions, or advice.
  2. For the ‘du’ imperative of weak and strong verbs, remove the ‘-st’ and the 'du'. Omit umlauts added as a stem change.
  3. To use the 'ihr' form of the imperative of weak and strong verbs, just remove the pronoun 'ihr'.
  4. To use the formal 'Sie' form of the imperative, swap the position of the verb and subject pronoun 'Sie'.
  5. 'Sein' is irregular in the 'du' and 'Sie' forms of the imperative. Use 'sei', 'seid' and 'Seien Sie'.

Keywords

  • Imperative - a mood used to give instructions, directions or advice

  • Du - subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, informal and singular

  • Ihr - subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, informal and plural

  • Sie - subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, formal

Common misconception

You always leave out the subject pronoun when using the imperative.

The 'du' and 'ihr' forms of the imperative omit the subject pronoun, but the 'Sie' form retains it.


To help you plan your year 11 German lesson on: Hilf der Umwelt! Imperative 'du', 'ihr', 'Sie', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The formation of the imperative is Higher-only grammar. Use Tasks B1 and B2 as comprehension and translation tasks for all students. Task B3 is more appropriate for Higher candidates.
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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 'anyway'?
bald
heute
ebenfalls
jedenfalls
Correct answer: sowieso
Q2.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:Gebiet (nt),region, area

region, area

Correct Answer:Komödie (f),comedy

comedy

Correct Answer:Öffentlichkeit (f),public

public

Correct Answer:Stelle (f),place, job

place, job

Correct Answer:Tatsache (f),fact

fact

Correct Answer:Zucker (m),sugar

sugar

Q3.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:digital,digital

digital

Correct Answer:elektronisch,electronic

electronic

Correct Answer:kurz,short

short

Correct Answer:möglich,possible

possible

Correct Answer:sauber,clean

clean

Correct Answer:witzig,funny, witty, comical

funny, witty, comical

Q4.
Order the words to say: 'My brother gets on my nerves.'
1 - mein
2 - Bruder
3 - geht
4 - mir
5 - auf
6 - die
7 - Nerven
Q5.
Write in English: 'Ich habe Gemüse gekauft.'
Correct Answer: I bought vegetables, I have bought vegetables
Q6.
Write in German: 'He is writing a list.'
Correct Answer: er schreibt eine Liste

Assessment exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
When giving instructions, we omit the subject pronouns '__________' and '__________', but use the subject pronoun '__________'.
Sie, du, ihr
ihr, Sie, du
Correct answer: du, ihr, Sie
Q2.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:sein,to be, being

to be, being

Correct Answer:sei,be (singular informal)

be (singular informal)

Correct Answer:seid,be (plural informal)

be (plural informal)

Correct Answer:seien Sie,be (formal)

be (formal)

Correct Answer:sie sind,they are

they are

Q3.
You are talking to your best friend. How would you say 'Take the paper.' (in the context of recycling)?
Nehmt das Altpapier.
Nehmst das Altpapier.
Nimmt das Altpapier.
Nimmst das Altpapier.
Correct answer: Nimm das Altpapier.
Q4.
You are talking to your siblings. Write in German: 'Buy the bottles.'
Correct Answer: kauft die Flaschen
Q5.
You are talking to your teacher. Write in German: 'Recycle the cans.'
Correct Answer: recyceln Sie die Dosen, recyceln Sie bitte die Dosen

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