Saying what something is like: subject pronouns 'er', 'sie', 'es' for 'it'
Learning outcomes
I can say what something is like, identifying grammatical gender and using the correct word for ‘it’.
I can recognise the short and long [ö] sound.
Saying what something is like: subject pronouns 'er', 'sie', 'es' for 'it'
Learning outcomes
I can say what something is like, identifying grammatical gender and using the correct word for ‘it’.
I can recognise the short and long [ö] sound.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- [ö] can be either long like in 'schön' or short like in 'plötzlich'.
- In German, subject pronouns tell us the grammatical gender of the subject.
- German has three words for the subject pronoun 'it' - masculine 'er', feminine 'sie' and neuter 'es'.
Keywords
[ö] - pronounced long [ö] as in ‘schön’ and short [ö] as in 'plötzlich'
Subject pronoun - represents the person, people or thing(s) doing the verb, e.g., I, we, they
Er - subject pronoun ‘he’ and ‘it’ for masculine nouns
Sie - subject pronoun ‘she’ and ‘it’ for feminine nouns
Es - subject pronoun ‘it’ for neuter nouns
Common misconception
'Er' and 'sie' only mean 'he' and 'she'.
Whilst 'er' and 'sie' do mean 'he' and 'she', they are also the masculine and neuter words for 'it'.
To help you plan your year 7 german lesson on: Saying what something is like: subject pronouns 'er', 'sie', 'es' for 'it', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 7 german lesson on: Saying what something is like: subject pronouns 'er', 'sie', 'es' for 'it', 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.
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The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 3 german lessons from the Christmas: singular and plural nouns unit, dive into the full secondary german curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
mother
father
night
head
dark
problem
example
school
I am
you are
he is
she is
they are
der
die
das