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New
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Year 7

Christmas: 'Es gibt' with plurals, the song 'O Tannenbaum'

Learning outcomes

I can apply masculine and neuter plural rules 1 and 2 to build sentences with ‘es gibt’ and ‘viele’.

I can transcribe a range of sounds, including [ü], and use these to sing a German Christmas song.

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New
New
Year 7

Christmas: 'Es gibt' with plurals, the song 'O Tannenbaum'

Learning outcomes

I can apply masculine and neuter plural rules 1 and 2 to build sentences with ‘es gibt’ and ‘viele’.

I can transcribe a range of sounds, including [ü], and use these to sing a German Christmas song.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. 'Es gibt' means 'there is' or 'there are' and 'viele' means 'lots of' or 'many'.
  2. [ü] can be either short (followed by 2 or more consonants) or long (followed by a single consonant or 'h').
  3. For noun plural rule 1, most masculine and neuter nouns add -e to the end and an umlaut on the vowel (ä,ö, ü).
  4. For noun plural rule 2, words ending in -el, -en or -er are often the same in the plural.
  5. ‘O Tannenbaum’ is a popular German Christmas song and translates as ‘O fir tree’.

Keywords

  • [ü] - pronounced short [ü] as in 'fünf' and long [ü] as in 'Tür'

  • Es gibt - 'there is' or 'there are'

  • Viele - lots of, many

Common misconception

All nouns change in their plural form.

Different nouns have different rules for forming plurals. It is important to learn these and acknowledge that there will always be exceptions to any rule.

'O Tannenbaum' doesn't translate directly as 'O Christmas tree', but instead as 'O fir tree'. It is based on a 16th-century folk song by Melchior Franck.
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Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these nouns are plural?
Kopf
Correct answer: Köpfe
Correct answer: Tage
Tag
Correct answer: Tische
Q2.
Which of these words contain a 'u' with an umlaut?
der Z_g
Correct answer: das St_ck
Correct answer: f_nf
die N_mmer
Q3.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:der Arzt,doctor
tick

doctor

Correct Answer:der Platz,place, room
tick

place, room

Correct Answer:der Zug,train
tick

train

Correct Answer:das Spiel,game
tick

game

Correct Answer:das Stück,piece
tick

piece

Q4.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:auch,also
tick

also

Correct Answer:es gibt,there is, there are
tick

there is, there are

Correct Answer:grün,green
tick

green

Correct Answer:wie viele,how many
tick

how many

Correct Answer:wünschen,to wish, wishing
tick

to wish, wishing

Q5.
Which noun endings do not tend to change in the plural form?
Correct answer: -el, e.g., 'Engel'
-ck, e.g., 'Stück'
Correct answer: -er, e.g., 'Zimmer'
Correct answer: -en, e.g., 'Mädchen'
-g, e.g., 'Zug'
Q6.
Which of these is a traditional German fruit bread?
Correct answer: Stollen
Lebkuchen
Tannenbaum

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these nouns are plural?
Arzt
Correct answer: Plätze
Stück
Correct answer: Spiele
Zug
Q2.
What is 'never' in German?
oft
Correct answer: nie
manchmal
Q3.
Which letter(s) do you add to the end of most masculine and neuter nouns to make them plural?
-s plus umlaut on a/o/u
Correct answer: -e
Correct answer: -e plus umlaut on a/o/u
-en
Q4.
Which of these nouns are in their plural form?
die Flasche
das Schnitzel
Correct answer: die Engel
Correct answer: die Köpfe
der Platz
Q5.
Which statements about 'O Tannenbaum' are true?
Correct answer: it is a traditional song
it is a rock song
it is a pop song
it is about love
Correct answer: it is about nature
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'There are lots of angels.'
Correct Answer: Es gibt viele Engel. , 'Es gibt viele Engel.', Es gibt viele Engel, 'Es gibt viele Engel'

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