Starter quiz
- Match the German nouns below to the correct English translations.
- der Nachbar⇔neighbour ✓
- der Mensch⇔human being, person ✓
- der Junge⇔boy ✓
- der Herr⇔Mr., gentleman ✓
- der Name⇔name ✓
- Read these words aloud to yourself. Which word is the odd one out?
- heißen
- Frankreich
- Schweiz
- Schauspieler ✓
- Österreich
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- Complete the following sentence with the correct form of a suitable noun: 'Meine Mutter kann gut singen. Sie ist ______.'
- 'Sängerin' ✓
- Which of the nouns below behaves like an adjective?
- Sie ist Deutsche. ✓
- Ich bin Schweizerin.
- Er ist Österreicher.
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- If 'die Kranken' means 'the sick people', then what would 'die Armen' mean?
- 'The poor people.' ✓
- Write two words to complete the translation of the following sentence into German: 'I have been learning Turkish since April.' - 'Ich ______ April Türkisch.'
- 'lerne seit' ✓
Exit quiz
- Match the German words below to the correct English translations.
- bedeuten⇔to mean, meaning ✓
- Europäische Union⇔EU ✓
- Großbritannien⇔Great Britain ✓
- nicht binär⇔non-binary ✓
- bisexuell⇔bisexual ✓
- stammen aus⇔to come from ✓
- What does 'Sänger*innen' mean in English?
- male singers
- female singers
- male and female singers
- singers of all genders ✓
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- How would you translate 'seit' in this sentence? 'Ich weiß seit einem Jahr, dass ich lesbisch bin.'
- since
- for ✓
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- In the following sentence, is the noun 'Kunde' a weak masculine noun or not? 'Ich spreche mit dem Kunden.'
- Yes, 'Kunde' is a weak masculine noun. ✓
- No, 'Kunde' is not a weak masculine noun.
- We can't tell from this sentence.
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- ‘Pansexuell’ is an adjective and means ‘pansexual’. What is the adjectival noun for 'pansexual people' in German?
- 'Pansexuelle' ✓
- Complete the following sentence with the correct form of the noun 'town': 'Ich wohne in zwei ______.'
- 'Städten' ✓
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Adjectival nouns behave like adjectives.
- Weak masculine nouns such as ‘Name’ add (e)n in every form except singular nominative.
- All dative plural nouns add-n, except plurals ending in -s.
- 'Seit' with the present tense communicates how long unfinished actions have been happening.
- There are several ways to make language gender neutral, including the gender star and pronouns ‘they’ and ‘xier’.
Common misconception
Nouns in German only change for the plural, like in English.
Adjectival nouns, weak masculine nouns and dative plural nouns all change their spelling.
Keywords
Adjectival noun - a type of noun that takes the same endings as adjectives
Weak masculine nouns - a small set of masculine nouns that add -(en) in all forms apart from the nominative singular
Dative plural nouns - nouns that add -n when they are used in the dative plural
Gender-neutral language - language that doesn’t specify gender
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