New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

Berufserfahrung: 'Sie', 'Ihnen', interrogatives 'wer', 'wen', 'wem'

I can use 'Sie' and 'Ihnen' to address other people politely in the context of enquiring about work experience.

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New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

Berufserfahrung: 'Sie', 'Ihnen', interrogatives 'wer', 'wen', 'wem'

I can use 'Sie' and 'Ihnen' to address other people politely in the context of enquiring about work experience.

Link copied to clipboard

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. 'Sie' is the polite way of saying 'you' and is a subject pronoun.
  2. The direct object pronoun for 'Sie' is also 'Sie'. The indirect object pronoun is 'Ihnen'.
  3. The interrogative pronoun 'wer' becomes 'wen' in the accusative.
  4. The interrogative pronoun 'wer' becomes 'wem' in the dative.

Keywords

  • Wer, wen, wem - question word meaning ‘who’ or ‘whom’ which changes according to case

  • Object pronoun - word which replaces the object of a verb; it is the accusative for a direct object, e.g., ‘Sie’ (you formal) or dative for an indirect object, e.g., 'Ihnen'

Common misconception

Use 'wer' in German whenever you want to say 'who'.

There are 3 different forms of 'who' in German, which should be used correctly to match the case required in each sentence. There are different forms in English (who, whom), but we don't often use 'whom'. The rules in German are stricter.


To help you plan your year 10 german lesson on: Berufserfahrung: 'Sie', 'Ihnen', interrogatives 'wer', 'wen', 'wem', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Encourage pupils to have simple example questions on hand to demonstrate 'wer', 'wen' and 'wem'. And to build confidence with 'Sie' and 'Ihnen', encourage students to convert simple sentences from informal to formal, e.g., 'ich danke dir' - 'ich danke Ihnen', 'du erzählst mir' - 'Sie erzählen mir'.
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Equipment

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

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:arm,poor

poor

Correct Answer:nett,nice

nice

Correct Answer:richtig,correct, right

correct, right

Correct Answer:einzig,only, single

only, single

Correct Answer:riesig,huge, great, tremendous

huge, great, tremendous

Correct Answer:gegenseitig,mutual, each other

mutual, each other

Q2.
What gender and number is the noun 'Berufserfahrung'?
masculine singular
Correct answer: feminine singular
neuter singular
masculine plural
feminine plural
Q3.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:sich beschäftigen mit,to be busy with, to deal with

to be busy with, to deal with

Correct Answer:sich beschweren,to complain, complaining

to complain, complaining

Correct Answer:sich denken,to imagine, to think to oneself

to imagine, to think to oneself

Correct Answer:sich verhalten,to behave, act

to behave, act

Correct Answer:sich fragen,to ask oneself, to wonder

to ask oneself, to wonder

Correct Answer:sich anziehen,to get dressed

to get dressed

Q4.
Match the subject pronouns to their direct object (accusative) pronouns.
Correct Answer:ich,mich

mich

Correct Answer:du,dich

dich

Correct Answer:er,ihn

ihn

Correct Answer:wir,uns

uns

Correct Answer:ihr (you plural),euch

euch

Correct Answer:sie (she, they),sie

sie

Q5.
Which of these are indirect object pronouns?
Correct answer: mir
Correct answer: dir
Correct answer: uns
ihn
sie
Q6.
Put the words below in the correct order to complete the following sentence: 'Ich schicke __________ (her) die Fotos, aber ich frage __________ (her), was sie mit __________ (them) machen will.'
1 - ihr
2 - sie
3 - ihnen

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:der Bereich,area

area

Correct Answer:die Gesellschaft,company, society

company, society

Correct Answer:der Eindruck,impression

impression

Correct Answer:die Rolle,role

role

Correct Answer:das Angebot,offer

offer

Q2.
'Jeden Tag sehen Sie sie.' Choose the correct translations.
Correct answer: You see her every day.
They see them every day.
She sees her every day.
Correct answer: You see them every day.
She sees them every day.
Q3.
Match the words for 'who' to the correct cases.
Correct Answer:wer,nominative

nominative

Correct Answer:wen,accusative

accusative

Correct Answer:wem,dative

dative

Q4.
Fill in the gap in the following sentence using the correct form of 'who': 'Mit arbeiten Sie gern?'
Correct Answer: wem
Q5.
In which of these sentences would you use 'Ihnen'?
Correct answer: Ich glaube __________ nicht.
Correct answer: Wir erzählen __________ alles!
Ich schreibe an __________.
Correct answer: Ich will __________ helfen.
Ich frage __________ oft.
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'Who can I ask?'
Correct Answer: Wen kann ich fragen?

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