Digital Detox: perfect tense, imperfect tense, 'gerade'
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use strong verbs in the perfect and imperfect tenses, including with 'gerade', in the context of technology and digital detox.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- Strong verbs form past participles with 'ge-' and '-en'. Some have a vowel change, such as 'ei' to 'ie' or 'ie' to 'o'.
- The imperfect tense is usually used in written texts for narration. The perfect tense is much more common in speaking.
- The imperfect tense forms ‘hatte’, ‘war’, and ‘es gab’ are often used in spoken as well as written German.
- Use 'gerade' with the perfect tense to mean 'just (now)'.
- Use 'gerade' with the imperfect tense to express that the action was taking place when something else happened.
Keywords
Perfect tense - past tense formed with the present tense of 'sein' or 'haben' and a past participle
Imperfect tense - single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing
Strong verb (perfect tense) - verb whose past participle adds ‘en’ and often changes the stem vowel, e.g., 'geflogen'.
Strong verb (imperfect tense) - verb which changes the stem vowel in the imperfect tense, e.g., ‘blieb’
Gerade - adverb meaning 'just (now)'
Common misconception
Always use the imperfect tense to translate the English simple past, e.g., 'I chatted online.'.
The perfect tense is far more common in German and is used for both the English simple past and perfect tense in speaking. The imperfect is used mainly to narrate past events in writing. However, 'hatte', 'war' and 'es gab' are used in speaking too.
Teacher tip
The imperfect strong verbs in Learning Cycle 2, and the use of 'gerade' in Learning Cycle 3, are Higher tier only.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these words means 'instead'?
Q2.Match the German and English.
to look at, watch
to arrive, arriving
to experience, find out
to originate, develop
to celebrate, celebrating
to fly, flying
Q3.Match the German and English.
area
mobile phone
chips, fries
silence, peace
fun
diary
Q4.Order the words to say: 'The friends won the tennis game.'
Q5.Write in English: 'Das WLAN im Hotel ist kostenlos.'
Q6.Write in German: 'I have read the newspaper.'
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.The __________ tense, also known as the simple past, is usually used in __________ texts for narration. The __________ tense is much more common in __________ German.
Q2.Which of these perfect tense sentences include strong verbs?
Q3.Order the words to say: 'He was (just) writing when she appeared.'
Q4.Order the words to say: 'We have (just) seen the film.'
Q5.Write in German: 'There were lots of fans.'
To help you plan your 10 German lesson on: Digital Detox: perfect tense, imperfect tense, 'gerade', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 10 German lesson on: Digital Detox: perfect tense, imperfect tense, 'gerade', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 German lessons from the Media and technology: Mein Leben online unit, dive into the full secondary German curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.