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Year 7

Who, what, how and where? Forming questions, compound nouns

Learning outcomes

I can ask questions in German using the question words 'Wer?', 'Wie?', 'Was?' and 'Wo?' and can form compound words.

I can pronounce [w] correctly.

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New
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Year 7

Who, what, how and where? Forming questions, compound nouns

Learning outcomes

I can ask questions in German using the question words 'Wer?', 'Wie?', 'Was?' and 'Wo?' and can form compound words.

I can pronounce [w] correctly.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. [w] sounds like the English [v].
  2. The question word 'Wer?' means 'Who?'.
  3. The question words 'Was?', 'Wo?' and 'Wie?' mean 'What?', 'Where?' and 'How?'.
  4. Two nouns can combine to form a compound noun, which takes the gender of the 2nd noun; for example, 'der Fußball'.

Keywords

  • Compound noun - two or more nouns put together to make one long word

  • [w] - pronounced [w] as in 'Wo?'

  • Wer - who

  • Information question - wh- word question that requires more information in the answer than just yes/no

  • Translator - person who translates text from one language to another

Common misconception

'Wer?' means 'Where?'.

'Wer?' means 'Who?'. A good way to remember its meaning is to think of a ‘hoover’: 'Who Wer?'.


To help you plan your year 7 german lesson on: Who, what, how and where? Forming questions, compound nouns, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Not all question words work with all nouns, e.g., 'Wer?' only makes sense with living things. This should be highlighted in Task B1.
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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

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:der Tisch,table
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table

Correct Answer:das Fenster,window
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window

Correct Answer:die Flasche,bottle
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bottle

Correct Answer:die Tafel,board
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board

Correct Answer:das Heft,exercise book
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exercise book

Q2.
Match each article to the correct grammatical gender.
Correct Answer:der,masculine
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masculine

Correct Answer:die,feminine
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feminine

Correct Answer:das,neuter
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neuter

Q3.
Match up the long form of each German verb to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:wissen,to know, knowing
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to know, knowing

Correct Answer:sein,to be, being
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to be, being

Correct Answer:sagen,to say, to tell
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to say, to tell

Q4.
Match the German adjectives to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:blau,blue
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blue

Correct Answer:rot,red
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red

Correct Answer:gelb,yellow
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yellow

Correct Answer:klein,small
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small

Correct Answer:groß,big
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big

Q5.
True or false? If someone asked you 'Wie sagt man das?', you would tell them how to say something.
Correct Answer: True
Q6.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:die Farbe,colour
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colour

Correct Answer:die Nummer,number
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number

Correct Answer:der Ort,place
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place

Correct Answer:ich weiß nicht,I don't know
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I don't know

Correct Answer:guten Tag,hello
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hello

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these words are compound nouns?
der Tag
Correct answer: der Fußball
das Haus
das Tier
Correct answer: das Haustier
Q2.
Match the German nouns below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:der Lehrer,teacher
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teacher

Correct Answer:das Wasser,water
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water

Correct Answer:die Welt,world
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world

Correct Answer:das Wort,word
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word

Correct Answer:der Freund,friend
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friend

Q3.
Match the German question words to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:Wo?,Where?
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Where?

Correct Answer:Wer?,Who?
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Who?

Correct Answer:Was?,What?
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What?

Correct Answer:Wie?,How? / Like what?
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How? / Like what?

Q4.
Match the questions below to the correct answers.
Correct Answer:Wo ist die Klasse?,Die Klasse ist da.
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Die Klasse ist da.

Correct Answer:Was ist das?,Das ist ein Fenster.
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Das ist ein Fenster.

Correct Answer:Wie geht's?,Gut, danke.
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Gut, danke.

Correct Answer:Wer ist das?,Das ist der Deutschlehrer.
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Das ist der Deutschlehrer.

Correct Answer:Wie ist der Mann?,Der Mann ist klein.
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Der Mann ist klein.

Q5.
What is the most natural English translation of 'nicht wahr' at the end of a question?
Correct answer: isn't it?
not true?
not correct?
Q6.
A translator has translated these sentences from English into German. Which ones are correct?
The table is there. - 'Tisch ist da.'
The window is yellow. - 'Das fenster ist gelb.'
Correct answer: What is that? - 'Was ist das?'
Correct answer: Hello, how are you? - 'Hallo, wie geht's?'
Where is the football? - 'Wer ist der Fußball?'

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