Matthias Maurer: yes/no questions in the perfect and imperfect tenses
Learning outcomes
I can form yes/no questions in the perfect and imperfect tenses to ask questions about famous German speakers.
I can recognise, write and pronounce [-er] and [-r-] with male and female people nouns.
Matthias Maurer: yes/no questions in the perfect and imperfect tenses
Learning outcomes
I can form yes/no questions in the perfect and imperfect tenses to ask questions about famous German speakers.
I can recognise, write and pronounce [-er] and [-r-] with male and female people nouns.
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Lesson details
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- [er] at the end of a word is unstressed and sounds like the English ‘uh’.
- The [r] in female people nouns is consonantal and is rolled at the back of the throat.
- Change verbs to male person nouns by adding –er to a verb stem.
- To form a yes/no question in the perfect tense, swap the subject and the verb and send the past participle to the end.
- To form a yes/no question in the imperfect tense, swap the subject and the verb.
Keywords
Male agent noun - a noun for someone who performs the action of a verb, usually ending in -er; for example, worker - ‘Arbeiter’
Imperfect tense - German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; for example, 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'
Perfect tense - German two-word past tense using either 'haben' or 'sein' with a past participle
Common misconception
Asking yes/no questions in the past is much more complicated than the present tense, as the rules are different. You need to translate 'did'.
The English 'did' isn't needed. Swap subject and verb for a yes/no question. 'Er sprach' (imperfect) becomes 'Sprach er?'. In the perfect tense, the past participle stays at the end of the sentence: 'Er hat gesprochen' - 'Hat er gesprochen?'.
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
to start, starting
to sleep, sleeping
to improve, improving
to try, trying
to concentrate on, concentrating on
to give up, giving up
die Universität
schreiben an
damals
das Ergebnis
die Kenntnis
das Verständnis
Exit quiz
6 Questions
hattest
hatten
hattet
hatte
observer
thinker
discoverer
supporter
developer
helper