Junge Deutsche: weak plural masculine nouns, feminine person nouns | German

Starter quiz

Match the German and English.

akzeptieren

⇔

to accept, accepting ✓

erreichen

⇔

to achieve, reach ✓

konzentrieren

⇔

to concentrate, concentrating ✓

gründen

⇔

to react, reacting (to) ✓

übersetzen

⇔

to translate, translating ✓

verhindern

⇔

to prevent, preventing ✓
Match the German and English.

Aufgabe (f)

⇔

task, assignment, job ✓

Einwohner (m)

⇔

inhabitant, resident ✓

Erde (f)

⇔

earth, ground ✓

Geschäft (nt)

⇔

business, shop ✓

Schlüssel (m)

⇔

key ✓

Vorbild (nt)

⇔

role model ✓
Which sentence is in the imperfect tense?

Ich spiele.

Ich habe gespielt.

Ich spielte. ✓

Ich werde spielen.

Ich möchte spielen.
'Du __________ einen roten Pullover'. Choose the correct missing verb.

haben

habt

hat

hattest ✓

hatte
Translate the following sentence into English: 'Das war mein Laptop.'

'That was my laptop.' ✓
Translate the following sentence into German: 'There were no socks.'

'Es gab keine Socken.' ✓

Exit quiz

These are all German words of foreign origin. Which add -s to form their plural?

Auto ✓

Interview ✓

Journalist

Reporter

Song ✓
Match the German and English.

Autor

⇔

author (m) ✓

Autorin

⇔

author (f) ✓

Autoren

⇔

authors (m) ✓

Autorinnen

⇔

authors (f) ✓
Which of these are imperfect tense verbs?

gefallen

wurde ✓

vorher

zumindest

fiel ✓
'Ich verstehe nichts.'. Rewrite this sentence in the imperfect tense.

'Ich verstand nichts.' ✓
Translate the following sentence into German: 'She is my boss.'

'Sie ist meine Chefin.' ✓
Translate the following sentence into German: 'I found the police officer (m).'. Use the imperfect tense.

'Ich fand den Polizisten.' ✓

Worksheet

Loading worksheet ...

Presentation

Loading presentation ...

Video

Lesson Details

Key learning points

Some masculine nouns, most of them referring to people or animals, add –(e)n to form the plural.
To change a masculine noun into a feminine noun, add '-in'; add 'nen' to make feminine nouns ending 'in' plural.
Some nouns, often of foreign origin, add 's' in the plural; this does not apply to person nouns.
The imperfect tense is commonly used to recount past events in writing. Irregular verb stems need to be learned.

Common misconception

Alll German words of foreign origin form their plural by adding 's'.

Inanimate nouns add 's': 'Interviews', 'Songs'. Person nouns ending in -er (e.g., 'Reporter') do not change in the masculine plural. Weak masculine nouns (e.g., 'Journalist') add -en in the plural. Feminine plurals add -nen (e.g., 'Journalistinnen').

Keywords

Weak masculine noun - a small set of masculine nouns that add -(e)n in all forms apart from singular nominative