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Year 7

Life at home: building sentences, present tense singular

Learning outcomes

I can use weak verbs in the present tense in singular persons to translate or write a letter to a penfriend in German.

I can pronounce the long and short [u] correctly.

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New
New
Year 7

Life at home: building sentences, present tense singular

Learning outcomes

I can use weak verbs in the present tense in singular persons to translate or write a letter to a penfriend in German.

I can pronounce the long and short [u] correctly.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. [u] can be either short (followed by 2 or more consonants) or long (followed by a single consonant or 'h').
  2. 'Buch' is an exception, with a long [u] before 2 consonants.
  3. There is only one present tense in German: 'ich lerne' means 'I learn' and 'I am learning'.

Keywords

  • [u] - pronounced as in 'du' or 'Punkt'

  • Present tense - describes habitual events in the present or what is happening now: 'I do' or ‘I’m doing’

Common misconception

There are two present tenses in German, as in English.

There is only one present tense in German. 'Ich lerne' means 'I learn' and 'I am learning'.

An alternative version of Task C1 would be to provide an English letter to translate into German.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on
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Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:bitte,please
tick

please

Correct Answer:danke,thank you
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thank you

Correct Answer:oder,or
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or

Correct Answer:und,and
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and

Correct Answer:aber,but
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but

Correct Answer:nochmal,again
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again

Q2.
Match the singular persons below to the correct present tense verb endings.
Correct Answer:ich,-e
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-e

Correct Answer:du,-st
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-st

Correct Answer:er, sie, es,-t
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-t

Q3.
What is the adverb in the following sentence? 'Ich zeichne im Klassenzimmer.'
Correct answer: im Klassenzimmer
zeichne
ich
Q4.
Which verbs add a '-t' to the stem in the 2nd person singular present tense, instead of '-st'?
Correct answer: tanzen
Correct answer: putzen
reden
sein
haben
Q5.
Which verbs add '-e-' to the verb stem in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present tense, before the verb ending?
tanzen
Correct answer: arbeiten
Correct answer: reden
kochen
wohnen
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'I play music every day.'
Correct Answer: Ich spiele jeden Tag Musik., 'Ich spiele jeden Tag Musik.'

4 Questions

Q1.
Select the words with a long [u]:
Correct answer: Buch
Correct answer: Minute
Correct answer: gut
unten
Correct answer: du
Q2.
Which translations of 'er nutzt' are correct?
she uses
Correct answer: he is using
she is using
Correct answer: he uses
Q3.
Put the words below into word order 1 (subject, verb, adverb, noun).
1 - ich
2 - lese
3 - im
4 - Garten
5 - ein
6 - Buch
Q4.
Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
Correct Answer:lieber,dear (m)
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dear (m)

Correct Answer:liebe,dear (f)
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dear (f)

Correct Answer:die Liebe,love
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love

Correct Answer:viele Grüße,best wishes
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best wishes

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