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      Mein Schultag: perfect tense, conversation (Edexcel)

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can categorise vocabulary to aid mastery, use the German perfect tense and take part confidently in a conversation about my school life.

      Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

      Key learning points

      1. The perfect tense in German takes a present tense form of the auxiliary verb and a past participle.
      2. Weak verb past participles sandwich the stem with 'ge-' and '-t'. Strong verbs use 'ge- and -'en'.
      3. Put separable prefixes before the 'ge-', but there is no 'ge-' before inseparable prefixes or '-ieren' verbs.
      4. Reflexive pronouns follow the auxiliary in WO1 and the subject in WO2. The German perfect has 2 English translations.
      5. Use verb clauses in a conversation response, and extend answers with a different tense, subject, opinions and reasons.

      Keywords

      • Auxiliary verb - a form of 'haben' or 'sein' used to form the perfect tense

      • Past participle - verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verb

      • Weak verb (perfect tense) - verb whose past participle sandwiches the stem with 'ge-' and '-t'

      • Strong verb (perfect tense) - verb whose past participle sandwiches the stem with 'ge-' and ‘-en’ and often changes the stem vowel

      Common misconception

      All German past participlies start with 'ge-'

      Verbs starting with inseparable prefixes like 'be-', 'er-', 'ent-' and 'ver-' do not need 'ge'. Neither do verbs ending in '-ieren', e.g., 'interessiert'. Separable prefixes appear before 'ge-' in the perfect tense, e.g., 'aufgemacht', 'eingeführt'.

      Teacher tip

      Getting pupils to practise developing answers before tackling a conversation on a given theme is a step often missed out by students. If they do this regularly in class, including translating their ideas into German, it will build confidence for both speaking and translation skills.

      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

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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which word is a synonym for 'Ding'?

      Aktivität (f)
      Lehre (f)
      Stunde (f)
      Correct answer: Sache (f)
      Sorge (f)

      Q2.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:gebracht,brought

      brought

      Correct Answer:gedacht,thought

      thought

      Correct Answer:getan,done

      done

      Correct Answer:geschlossen,closed

      closed

      Correct Answer:gestorben,died

      died

      Correct Answer:gezogen,pulled, moved

      pulled, moved

      Q3.
      Match the German and English.

      Correct Answer:Art (f),type, kind

      type, kind

      Correct Answer:Beziehung (f),relation, relationship

      relation, relationship

      Correct Answer:Nachteil (m),disadvantage

      disadvantage

      Correct Answer:Freiheit (f),freedom

      freedom

      Correct Answer:Hoffnung (f),hope

      hope

      Correct Answer:Zukunft (f),future

      future

      Q4.
      Order the words to say: 'We lost the horse in the forest.'

      1 - wir
      2 - haben
      3 - das
      4 - Pferd
      5 - im
      6 - Wald
      7 - verloren

      Q5.
      Write in English: 'sie hat das Fenster aufgemacht'.

      Correct Answer: she opened the window, she has opened the window, she's opened the window

      Q6.
      Write in German: 'my tooth hurts'.

      Correct Answer: mein Zahn tut weh

      4 Questions

      Q1.
      A well-developed response in a conversation has at least verb clauses.

      Correct Answer: three, 3

      Q2.
      'Er hat den Preis gewonnen.' Which translations are correct?

      He wins the prize.
      He is winning the prize.
      Correct answer: He won the prize.
      Correct answer: He has won the prize.
      He had won the prize.

      Q3.
      Order the words to say: 'I got dressed in the bedroom.'

      1 - ich
      2 - habe
      3 - mich
      4 - im
      5 - Schlafzimmer
      6 - an
      7 - gezogen

      Q4.
      Write in German: 'I took the book'.

      Correct Answer: ich habe das Buch genommen

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