Wie komme ich am besten ... ? Formal and informal imperatives
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can understand and use informal and formal imperatives for giving instructions, directions and advice.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- Imperative verbs are used to give instructions, directions, or advice.
- For the ‘du’ imperative of weak and strong verbs, remove the ‘-st’ and the 'du'. Omit umlauts added as a stem change.
- To use the 'ihr' form of the imperative of weak and strong verbs, just remove the pronoun 'ihr'.
- To use the formal 'Sie' form of the imperative, swap the position of the verb and subject pronoun 'Sie'.
- '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
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.
Teacher tip
The formation of the imperative is Higher-only grammar. Students might enjoy giving their own directions using the imperative around the classroom or school, using e.g., 'Geh/Geht/Gehen Sie' and 'Nimm/Nehmt/ Nehmen Sie'.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these words means 'certain(ly)'?
Q2.Match the German and English.
offer
aeroplane
building
stadium
bag
goods
Q3.Match the German and English.
to call, calling
to lay, put
to set, place
to look, looking
to show, showing
to count, counting
Q4.Order the words to say: 'He wants to be in good shape.'
Q5.Write in German: 'a fashionable market'.
Q6.Write in German: 'the historical church'.
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.The imperative uses the subject pronoun in the ...
Q2.Which of the below are 'du' imperative verb forms?
Q3.Match each imperative to the correct person.
your brother
your sisters
your neighbour
Q4.You are talking to a group of friends. In German, give the instruction: 'speak'.
Q5.You are talking to your teacher. In German, give the instruction: 'go'.
To help you plan your 11 German lesson on: Wie komme ich am besten ... ? Formal and informal imperatives, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 German lesson on: Wie komme ich am besten ... ? Formal and informal imperatives, 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 My neighbourhood: Mein Wohnort unit, dive into the full secondary German curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.