icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

How's it going? 'Wie' and the singular indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine', 'ein'

Learning outcomes

I can use the question word 'Wie?' to ask how things are going and can use the indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine' and 'ein' in contrast to the definite articles 'der', 'die', 'das'.

I can pronounce [ei] correctly.

icon-background-square
New
New
Year 7

How's it going? 'Wie' and the singular indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine', 'ein'

Learning outcomes

I can use the question word 'Wie?' to ask how things are going and can use the indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine' and 'ein' in contrast to the definite articles 'der', 'die', 'das'.

I can pronounce [ei] correctly.

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. [ei] sounds like the German word 'frei' and the English word 'eye'.
  2. 'Wie?' means 'How?', like in 'Wie geht's?' ('How's it going?').
  3. German has three words for 'a': 'ein' (masculine), 'eine' (feminine) and 'ein' (neuter).
  4. 'A' (ein, eine, ein) introduces new information; 'the' (der, die, das) refers to something already mentioned or known.

Keywords

  • Ei - pronounced ‘ei’ as in 'frei'

  • Indefinite article - different forms of ‘a’: ‘ein’, ‘eine’, ‘ein'

Common misconception

[ei] is pronounced like the English [e].

[ei] is pronounced as in the key word 'frei' and like the English 'eye'.

From the outset teachers can use every practice opportunity to help their pupils learn and remember the grammatical gender of each new noun; for example, by including it in the scoring of every vocabulary check.
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.
True or false? In German, there is only one word for 'the'?
Correct Answer: False
Q2.
Match the following German words to the correct gender.
Correct Answer:Tisch,der
tick

der

Correct Answer:Tafel,die
tick

die

Correct Answer:Paar,das
tick

das

Q3.
Which of these is the correct translation of the sentence 'Wo ist der Gast?' into English?
Correct answer: Where is the guest?
How is the guest?
Who is the guest?
Q4.
Which of these words contain a long vowel sound?
Correct answer: fragen
Flasche
Mann
Correct answer: geben
Correct answer: Idee
Q5.
Which of these words contain a short vowel sound?
Correct answer: besser
Correct answer: Ende
Correct answer: Klasse
Correct answer: kann
Paar
Q6.
True or false? 'Sein' and 'ist' mean 'to be, being' and 'is'.
Correct Answer: True

6 Questions

Q1.
Match these English statements about how someone is doing to the correct German equivalents.
Correct Answer:not good, not well,nicht so gut
tick

nicht so gut

Correct Answer:good, well,gut
tick

gut

Correct Answer:it's going OK,ja, es geht
tick

ja, es geht

Q2.
True or false? The German sound [ei] is pronounced like the English word 'eye'.
Correct Answer: True
Q3.
Match each German question to the appropriate answer.
Correct Answer:Was ist das?,Das ist ein Tisch.
tick

Das ist ein Tisch.

Correct Answer:Wie geht's?,Gut!
tick

Gut!

Correct Answer:Wo ist der Gast?,Da!
tick

Da!

Q4.
Which of these words are indefinite articles?
der
Correct answer: ein
Correct answer: eine
das
Q5.
Match these German words to their English translations.
Correct Answer:das Ding,the thing
tick

the thing

Correct Answer:die Form,the shape
tick

the shape

Correct Answer:der Mensch,the human being
tick

the human being

Correct Answer:klein,small
tick

small

Correct Answer:groß,big
tick

big

Q6.
Which of these definitions correctly describes the indefinite article?
Correct answer: introduces new information and identifies something unknown
refers to something already mentioned or known
a word which describes an action or state

Additional material

Download additional material