icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

Narrate other people's actions: present tense weak and strong verbs

Learning outcomes

I can use the 3rd person plural present tense form of weak and strong verbs to narrate other people's actions.

I can distinguish between long and short [a], [e], [i], [o], [u], [ä], [ö], [ü].

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

Narrate other people's actions: present tense weak and strong verbs

Learning outcomes

I can use the 3rd person plural present tense form of weak and strong verbs to narrate other people's actions.

I can distinguish between long and short [a], [e], [i], [o], [u], [ä], [ö], [ü].

warning

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Vowels are long when followed by a single consonant, 'h' or if there is a double vowel; vowels are otherwise short.
  2. The subject pronoun 'sie' can mean both 'she' and 'they'. It means 'they' when used with a 3rd person plural verb.
  3. Strong verbs change their vowel in the verb stem of the 2nd person singular and 3rd person singular forms only.
  4. The 3rd person plural form of weak and strong verbs is identical to the infinitive.

Keywords

  • Long vowel - a vowel pronounced for a longer duration, as in the [a] in 'sagen'

  • Sie - subject pronoun meaning 'she' when used with a singular verb or 'they' with a plural verb

  • Strong verb - a verb which changes its vowel in the verb stem of some of its forms

Common misconception

'Sie' always means 'she'.

As a subject pronoun, 'sie' can mean 'she' or 'they'. As an object pronoun, 'sie' means 'her' or 'it'.

Students could also complete the dictagloss activity in pairs as a running dictation task, before translating it into English or writing their own summary of the text. Uninterrupted audio for the Task B2 feedback is provided on the media clips page.
speech-bubble
Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

copyright

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

Loading...

Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these words contain a long vowel?
Kopf (m)
null
Correct answer: wir
Correct answer: du
Handy (nt)
Q2.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:deshalb,therefore, for that reason
tick

therefore, for that reason

Correct Answer:nie,never
tick

never

Correct Answer:nehmen,to take, taking
tick

to take, taking

Correct Answer:schließlich,finally, eventually
tick

finally, eventually

Correct Answer:später,later
tick

later

Correct Answer:früh,early
tick

early

Q3.
What is a weak verb?
an irregular verb
a verb which changes its vowel in the verb stem of some of its forms
Correct answer: a verb that follows a regular pattern of changes
a verb that doesn't follow any pattern of changes
a verb of necessity or possibility (must, can, want) used with an infinitive
Q4.
Which of the verbs below are strong verbs and change their vowel in the verb stem of the 2nd and 3rd person singular forms?
spielen
Correct answer: geben
haben
Correct answer: vergessen
Correct answer: fahren
Q5.
Match the German and English subject pronouns.
Correct Answer:ich,I
tick

I

Correct Answer:du,you (singular)
tick

you (singular)

Correct Answer:er,he, it
tick

he, it

Correct Answer:sie,she, it
tick

she, it

Correct Answer:es,it
tick

it

Correct Answer:wir,we
tick

we

Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'She takes a biscuit.'
Correct Answer: Sie nimmt einen Keks., Sie nimmt einen Keks

6 Questions

Q1.
Vowels in German are long when ...
Correct answer: followed by a single consonant.
followed by more than one consonant.
Correct answer: followed by 'h'.
Correct answer: there is a double vowel.
they are in a strong verb.
Q2.
What can 'sie' mean?
Correct answer: she
Correct answer: it
Correct answer: they
he
we
Q3.
Which of the words below could be examples of the 3rd person plural present tense?
Correct answer: lassen
lässt
Correct answer: hören
gibt
acht
Q4.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:halten,to stop, stopping
tick

to stop, stopping

Correct Answer:zuerst,first(ly)
tick

first(ly)

Correct Answer:manchmal,sometimes
tick

sometimes

Correct Answer:danach,afterwards, after it
tick

afterwards, after it

Correct Answer:kaum,hardly
tick

hardly

Correct Answer:lassen,to leave, leaving (something)
tick

to leave, leaving (something)

Q5.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'They do not run very often.'
Correct Answer: Sie laufen nicht sehr oft., Sie laufen nicht sehr oft
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'She forgets the homework.'
Correct Answer: Sie vergisst die Hausufgaben., Sie vergisst die Hausufgaben

Additional material

Download additional material