At school and at home: present tense (weak verbs) 1st and 3rd person singular | German

Starter quiz

Match the German words or phrases below to the correct English translations.
- der/die/das Erste
  
  ⇔
  
  the first one ✓
- Wer hat einen Grund?
  
  ⇔
  
  Who has a reason? ✓
- Hast du ein Beispiel?
  
  ⇔
  
  Do you have an example? ✓
- spielen
  
  ⇔
  
  to play, playing ✓
- machen
  
  ⇔
  
  to do, doing ✓
- reden
  
  ⇔
  
  to talk, talking ✓
Which statements are correct?
- The 1st person (ich) present tense verb ending is '-e'. ✓
- The 3rd person (er/sie) present tense verb ending is '-t'. ✓
- The verb stem is the only form of the verb found in a dictionary.
- The verb stem is created by removing the '-en' ending of the infinitive. ✓
- There are two present tenses in German.
Match the sentence starters below to the correct sentence endings.
- Ich
  
  ⇔
  
  lerne in der Schule. ✓
- Hast
  
  ⇔
  
  du ein Klassenzimmer? ✓
- Wer hat
  
  ⇔
  
  einen Grund? ✓
- Er
  
  ⇔
  
  sitzt im Unterricht. ✓
- Mia macht
  
  ⇔
  
  eine Aufgabe. ✓
- Die Frau redet
  
  ⇔
  
  mit Freunden. ✓
Which of these words contain a long vowel?
- [a] sagen ✓
- [a] kalt
- [o] Kopf
- [i] wir ✓
- [i] finden
Fill in the gap to complete the following sentence: '______ schreibe eine Liste.'
- 'Ich' ✓
Fill in the gap with the correct present tense verb ending to complete the following sentence: 'Er red______ mit Freunden.'
- 'et' ✓

Exit quiz

Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
- arbeiten
  
  ⇔
  
  to work, working ✓
- kochen
  
  ⇔
  
  to cook, cooking ✓
- putzen
  
  ⇔
  
  to clean, cleaning ✓
- oder
  
  ⇔
  
  or ✓
- und
  
  ⇔
  
  and ✓
- aber
  
  ⇔
  
  but ✓
What is a weak verb?
- a verb which follows an irregular pattern of changes
- a verb which follows a regular pattern of changes ✓
- a verb which is not found in a dictionary
Which of these words are conjunctions?
- aber ✓
- Boden (m)
- und ✓
- nochmal
- spielen
True or false? [ie], as in 'Liebe', makes the same sound as [ee], as in 'Kaffee'.
- True
- False ✓
Translate the following sentence into German: 'I work or I play.'
- 'Ich arbeite oder ich spiele.' ✓

Worksheet

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Lesson Details

Key learning points

Revisit [a], [e], [ei], [i], [w], [o], [ie] and [z].
Remove 'en' from the infinitive, add 'e' for the 1st person singular of weak verbs in German.
Remove 'en' from the infinitive, add 't' for the 3rd person singular of weak verbs in German.
Use 'und', 'oder' and 'aber' to link ideas and make longer sentences.
'Sein' is an irregular verb and does not follow a regular pattern of verb endings.

Common misconception

The same verb endings can be added to all verb stems.

Weak verbs (also known as regular verbs) follow a set pattern of changes to verb endings. Strong verbs (also known as irregular verbs) do not follow this pattern.

Keywords

Conjunction - a word used to link ideas together and make longer sentences
Weak verb - a verb which follows a regular pattern of changes