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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
New
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?'.

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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Equipment

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
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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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