icon-background-square
New
New
Year 10
AQA

Vor und nach der Schule: word order with 'nachdem' and 'bevor'

I can use prepositions ‘vor’ and ‘nach’ and conjunctions ‘bevor’ and ‘nachdem’ in the context of routines and activities before and after school.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 10
AQA

Vor und nach der Schule: word order with 'nachdem' and 'bevor'

I can use prepositions ‘vor’ and ‘nach’ and conjunctions ‘bevor’ and ‘nachdem’ in the context of routines and activities before and after school.

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. 'Vor' and 'nach' are prepositions used with nouns to express 'before' and 'after'. They take the dative case.
  2. 'Bevor' and 'nachdem' are conjunctions meaning 'before' and 'after' and link two clauses.
  3. 'Bevor' and 'nachdem' are followed by word order 3 and send the verb to the end of the clause.
  4. In two-verb structures, the finite verb, not the past participle or infinitive verb, are sent to the end of the clause.
  5. ‘Bevor’ and ‘nachdem’ can also start a sentence, creating verb-comma-verb word order.

Keywords

  • Noun - word for a person, place, or thing which has a grammatical gender in German

  • Clause - a group of words, consisting of a subject and a finite form of a verb

  • Preposition - a word that is used before a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to another word

  • Conjunction - word that connects ideas between clauses in a sentence

  • Word order 3 - (WO3) after certain conjunctions, the verb is sent to the end of the sentence or clause

Common misconception

'Vor' and 'bevor' and 'nach' and 'nachdem' are interchangeable because they mean 'before' and 'after'.

'Vor' and 'nach' are prepositions and are followed by a noun, 'bevor' and 'nachdem' are conjunctions which link clauses and trigger word order 3.


To help you plan your year 10 german lesson on: Vor und nach der Schule: word order with 'nachdem' and 'bevor', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Word order 3 after conjunctions with single verb structures is Foundation tier and Higher tier with 2-verb structures. Mini whiteboards could be used effectively for Task B2 to enable quick feedback and correction.
speech-bubble
Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

copyright

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

Loading...

Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:heiß,hot
tick

hot

Correct Answer:offen,open
tick

open

Correct Answer:lokal,local, locally
tick

local, locally

Correct Answer:tot,dead
tick

dead

Correct Answer:stolz,proud
tick

proud

Correct Answer:zufrieden,satisfied
tick

satisfied

Q2.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:das Gymnasium,grammar school
tick

grammar school

Correct Answer:die Hochschule,college, university
tick

college, university

Correct Answer:die Bildung,education, learning
tick

education, learning

Correct Answer:das Studium,study, studies
tick

study, studies

Correct Answer:die Grundschule,primary school
tick

primary school

Correct Answer:sitzenbleiben,to repeat a school year
tick

to repeat a school year

Q3.
What type of words are 'vor', 'nach', 'mit' and 'für'?
Correct Answer: prepositions, preposition, a preposition
Q4.
What type of words are 'und', 'aber', 'wenn' and 'als'?
Correct Answer: conjunctions, connectives, conjunction, connective, a conjunction
Q5.
Match the phrases. Think about the different meanings of 'vor' and 'nach'.
Correct Answer:vor drei Jahren,three years ago
tick

three years ago

Correct Answer:vor dem Fenster,in front of the window
tick

in front of the window

Correct Answer:vor der Schule,before school
tick

before school

Correct Answer:nach der Schule,after school
tick

after school

Correct Answer:nach Deutschland,to Germany
tick

to Germany

Correct Answer:nach Hause,(to) home
tick

(to) home

Q6.
Put the words in the correct order to show word order 3 with 'wenn'.
1 - wenn
2 - ich
3 - einen Vogel
4 - finden
5 - kann

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:gleichzeitig,at the same time
tick

at the same time

Correct Answer:der Alltag,daily routine, everyday living
tick

daily routine, everyday living

Correct Answer:besondere(r)(s),special, particular
tick

special, particular

Correct Answer:bewegen,to move, moving
tick

to move, moving

Correct Answer:seitdem,since then
tick

since then

Correct Answer:der Termin,appointment
tick

appointment

Q2.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'He eats an egg and drinks tea.'
Correct Answer: Er isst ein Ei und trinkt Tee.
Q3.
What type of words are 'vor' and 'nach'?
Correct Answer: prepositions, preposition, a preposition
Q4.
Which part of the clause goes to the end when using word order 3?
the infinitive
Correct answer: the finite (conjugated) verb
the past participle
the noun
the subject
Q5.
Sort the words below into the correct order to complete the following sentence: 'Nachdem ich aufgestanden bin, __________.'
1 - trinke
2 - ich
3 - ein
4 - Glas
5 - Wasser
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'before I go to the cinema'
Correct Answer: bevor ich ins Kino gehe, bevor ich in das Kino gehe

Additional material

Download additional material