This summer: present vs past, perfect tense weak verbs 1st person singular | German

Starter quiz

How do you say 'I have' in German?
- Ich haben.
- Ich hast.
- Ich habe. ✓
- Ich hat.
Match each of these verbs to their English translations.
- machen
  
  ⇔
  
  to do, to make ✓
- legen
  
  ⇔
  
  to lay, put ✓
- wohnen
  
  ⇔
  
  to live ✓
- hören
  
  ⇔
  
  to hear ✓
- beginnen
  
  ⇔
  
  to begin ✓
- gewinnen
  
  ⇔
  
  to win ✓
To find the stem of a German verb, take the infinitive (e.g., 'machen') and remove the ______.
- 'en' ✓
Match each of these words or phrases to their English translations.
- schon
  
  ⇔
  
  already ✓
- immer
  
  ⇔
  
  always ✓
- nie
  
  ⇔
  
  never ✓
- letzten Monat
  
  ⇔
  
  last month ✓
- letztes Jahr
  
  ⇔
  
  last year ✓
- letzte Woche
  
  ⇔
  
  last week ✓
How do you say 'I learn' in German?
- 'Ich lerne' ✓
Which of the following words include the letters which make the sound in the English word 'I'?
- Wien
- das Ziel
- Freiburg ✓
- schließlich
- Kleidung ✓

Exit quiz

Match each of these German words to their English translations.
- die Kleidung
  
  ⇔
  
  clothing ✓
- der Spaß
  
  ⇔
  
  fun ✓
- deshalb
  
  ⇔
  
  therefore, for that reason ✓
- erleben
  
  ⇔
  
  to experience ✓
- kaufen
  
  ⇔
  
  to buy ✓
- der Punkt
  
  ⇔
  
  point, dot, full stop ✓
Put the verbs below in the correct order to complete the following sentence: 'Ich __________ eine Bootsfahrt __________ und dann __________ ich Kleidung __________.'
- 1
  
  ⇔
  
  habe
- 2
  
  ⇔
  
  gemacht
- 3
  
  ⇔
  
  habe
- 4
  
  ⇔
  
  gekauft
Which of these verbs do not require 'ge' in front of the past participle?
- wohnen
- erleben ✓
- spielen
- kochen
- besuchen ✓
Which of the following time adverbials express general or unspecified times?
- letzten Monat
- nie ✓
- gestern
- schon ✓
- diesen Sommer
When translating the German perfect tense into English, which of these rules are correct?
- Use simple past tense for all events that are finished.
- Use present perfect for specified times that are finished.
- Use simple past for specified times that are finished. ✓
- Use either simple past or present perfect for unspecified general times. ✓
Which tense would you use to translate the German sentence 'Ich habe letzten Sommer Wien besucht' into English?
- 'simple past' ✓

Worksheet

Loading worksheet ...

Presentation

Loading presentation ...

Video

Lesson Details

Key learning points

[ei] and [ie] are tricky German sounds and need to be read, written and pronounced correctly.
To understand what you did in the past, use the present tense of ‘haben’ and a past participle.
The perfect tense in German can be translated in two ways in English: 'have done' and 'did'.
The English meaning we use often depends on time adverbs.

Common misconception

The perfect tense in German is often only translated as 'have done'.

Give clear examples of both translations 'have done' and 'did' with appropriate time adverbials. Emphasise the role of time adverbials in helping to decide on the correct English translation.

Keywords

[ei] - sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as in 'frei'
[ie] - sound-symbol correspondence pronounced as in 'Liebe'
Past participle - the form of a verb used in the perfect tense; for example gespielt (played)
Perfect tense - the German past tense which translates 2 English past tenses; for example, I did and I have done.