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Year 10
Edexcel

Liest du Romane? Questions and informal imperatives with strong verbs

I can use present tense strong verbs to ask questions and use the informal imperative to give instructions or advice in the context of free-time activities.

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New
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Year 10
Edexcel

Liest du Romane? Questions and informal imperatives with strong verbs

I can use present tense strong verbs to ask questions and use the informal imperative to give instructions or advice in the context of free-time activities.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Strong verbs in the present tense change the stem vowel in the 2nd and 3rd person singular: e - i, e - ie, or a - ä.
  2. Use 'du' questions for informal singular ‘you’, and 'ihr' questions for informal plural ‘you’.
  3. Strong verbs retain the present tense stem vowel change in the 'du' form of the imperative but they omit the umlaut.
  4. To use the 'ihr' form of the imperative of weak and strong verbs, just remove the pronoun 'ihr'.
  5. 'Sein' is irregular in the 'du' form of the imperative. Use 'sei' for the 'du' form and 'seid' for the 'ihr' form.

Keywords

  • Strong verb - a verb whose stem vowel changes in the ‘du’ and ‘er, sie, es’ forms in the present tense

  • Imperative - a mood used to tell somebody to do something or give instructions or commands

  • Du - subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, informal and singular

  • Ihr - subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, informal and plural

Common misconception

Strong verbs never keep their stem changes in the 'du' form of the imperative.

Strong verbs keep stem vowel changes, e.g. 'e' to 'i', 'e' to 'ie', but omit the umlaut ('ä') in the imperative.


To help you plan your year 10 german lesson on: Liest du Romane? Questions and informal imperatives with strong verbs, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

The formation of the imperative is Higher-only grammar, so teachers of Foundation-only classes might wish to continue to practise present tense strong verbs in a different way. One idea would be to turn Task B2 into a question and answer speaking activity.
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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 and English.
Correct Answer:Chef,boss
tick

boss

Correct Answer:Kollegin,colleague (f)
tick

colleague (f)

Correct Answer:Journalist,journalist
tick

journalist

Correct Answer:Künstler,artist
tick

artist

Correct Answer:Polizist,police officer
tick

police officer

Correct Answer:Anwältin,lawyer (f)
tick

lawyer (f)

Q2.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:kommen,to come, coming
tick

to come, coming

Correct Answer:lesen,to read, reading
tick

to read, reading

Correct Answer:nehmen,to take, taking
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to take, taking

Correct Answer:wechseln,to change, changing
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to change, changing

Correct Answer:treffen,to meet, meeting
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to meet, meeting

Correct Answer:geben,to give, giving
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to give, giving

Q3.
Which of these is the verb stem?
finden
Correct answer: find-
gefunden
-en
Q4.
Which of these words mean 'you'?
sie
Correct answer: du
Correct answer: ihr
ich
es
Q5.
Sort the words below into the correct order to form a closed question.
1 - liest
2 - du
3 - ein
4 - Buch
5 - ?
Q6.
Sort the words below into the correct order to form an open question.
1 - wann
2 - siehst
3 - du
4 - gern
5 - fern
6 - ?

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the German and English.
Correct Answer:Roman (m),novel
tick

novel

Correct Answer:Fernsehen (nt),television, TV
tick

television, TV

Correct Answer:Folge (f),episode
tick

episode

Correct Answer:Sendung (f),programme (on TV)
tick

programme (on TV)

Correct Answer:Wettbewerb (m),competition
tick

competition

Correct Answer:Runde (f),round, lap
tick

round, lap

Q2.
Sort the words below into the correct order to form a question.
1 - helft
2 - ihr
3 - morgen
4 - beim
5 - Wettbewerb
6 - mit
7 - ?
Q3.
Which of these are the 'du' and 'ihr' imperative forms of the verb 'fahren'?
Correct answer: Fahr!
Fähr!
Correct answer: Fahrt!
Fährt!
Q4.
Which of these verbs does not have a stem change in the 'du' form of the imperative?
helfen
sehen
Correct answer: machen
geben
nehmen
Q5.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'Be careful!' (You are talking to one person.)
Correct Answer: Sei vorsichtig!
Q6.
Translate the following sentence into German: 'Be friendly!' (You are talking to two people.)
Correct Answer: Seid freundlich!

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