icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

What we do together: present 1st person plural weak verbs and 'sein'

Learning outcomes

I can distinguish English and German uses of the present tense and talk about what I do with others using the 1st person plural of weak verbs and of 'sein'.

I can correctly pronounce [v].

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

What we do together: present 1st person plural weak verbs and 'sein'

Learning outcomes

I can distinguish English and German uses of the present tense and talk about what I do with others using the 1st person plural of weak verbs and of 'sein'.

I can correctly pronounce [v].

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. 'Sein' is an irregular verb. 'Wir sind' means 'we are'.
  2. No indefinite article is needed when using ‘sein’ + profession noun, e.g., ‘Sie ist Lehrerin’.
  3. The simple present is the only present tense in German.
  4. Adverbs of time tell us which English tense to use (simple present or present continuous) when translating from German.

Keywords

  • [v] - pronounced as in 'vor'

  • Sind - 1st person plural and 3rd person plural present tense form of 'sein', meaning (we, they) 'are' or 'are being’

  • Simple present - present tense used to describe habitual, routine actions; it is the only present tense in German

  • Present continuous - present tense used in English to describe ongoing, current actions; it is not used in German

  • Adverb - word that describes a verb or adjective

Common misconception

You have to use an indefinite article when using 'sein' and a profession noun.

Do not use an indefinite article when using 'sein' and a profession noun, e.g., 'Ich bin Sänger'.

Task C2 could be completed as a gapped listening task instead of a reading task. Remove the word list if students complete it as a listening task.
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.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:zeigen,to show, showing
tick

to show, showing

Correct Answer:antworten,to answer, answering
tick

to answer, answering

Correct Answer:schreiben,to write, writing
tick

to write, writing

Correct Answer:ihn,it, him
tick

it, him

Correct Answer:Naturwissenschaft (f),science
tick

science

Correct Answer:tanzen,to dance, dancing
tick

to dance, dancing

Q2.
Complete the following sentence with the correct present tense weak verb ending: 'Er spiel jeden Tag Sport.'
Correct Answer: t, -t
Q3.
Which of these words or phrases are adverbs?
Correct answer: manchmal
Correct answer: langsam
nicht
Fach
Correct answer: im Garten
Q4.
Match the pronouns to the correct verb forms.
Correct Answer:ich,gehe
tick

gehe

Correct Answer:du,gehst
tick

gehst

Correct Answer:sie, er, es,geht
tick

geht

Correct Answer:wir,gehen
tick

gehen

Q5.
Translate the following sentence into English: 'Ich mag den Lehrer.'
Correct Answer: I like the teacher., I like the male teacher.
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'You write every day.'
Correct Answer: Du schreibst jeden Tag.

6 Questions

Q1.
What can be a problem for English speakers when pronouncing the German [v]?
Correct answer: [v] sounds like the English 'f'
Correct answer: [w] sounds like the English 'v'
Correct answer: you could say a different word if you mix the sounds up, e.g., 'Vieh' and 'wie'
[v] sounds like the German [w]
[v], [w] and [f] sound the same in German
Q2.
Match the pronouns to the correct forms of 'sein'.
Correct Answer:ich,bin
tick

bin

Correct Answer:du,bist
tick

bist

Correct Answer:sie, er, es,ist
tick

ist

Correct Answer:wir,sind
tick

sind

Q3.
Fill in the gap to complete the following sentence: 'Ich gehe in die __________.'
zuhören
Correct answer: Moschee (f)
Einzelkind (nt)
schwimmen
Schlagzeug (nt)
Q4.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'I am a father.'
Correct Answer: Ich bin Vater.
Q5.
'I play the drums often.'. Which present tense is this?
Correct answer: simple present
present continuous
Q6.
What is the correct translation of the following sentence? 'The teacher (f) is writing now.'
Die Lehrerin schreibt.
Correct answer: Die Lehrerin schreibt jetzt.
Die Lehrerin schreibt jede Woche.
Die Lehrerin zeigt jetzt.
Die Lehrerin zeigt.

Additional material

Download additional material