Lebenserfahrung: simple past with früher, gern, lieber, am liebsten, reflexive verbs | German

Starter quiz

Match the German with the English.

der Arbeitsplatz

⇔

workplace, job ✓

die Bildung

⇔

education, learning, creation, formation ✓

die Hochschule

⇔

college, university ✓

die Literatur

⇔

literature ✓

soziale Medien

⇔

social media ✓

Stief-

⇔

step- ✓
Match the German with the English.

die Rede

⇔

speech, talk ✓

sich freuen auf

⇔

to look forward to ✓

treffen

⇔

to meet, meeting ✓

die Eltern

⇔

parents ✓

die Freude

⇔

joy ✓

eigen

⇔

own ✓
Which word means 'prefer'?

gern

lieber ✓

sehr gern

liebe

mag
Sort the words below into the correct order to translate the following sentence into German: 'I stood by the window'.

1

⇔

ich

2

⇔

habe

3

⇔

am

4

⇔

Fenster

5

⇔

gestanden
Sort the words below into the correct order to translate the following sentence into German: 'I had to jump high'.

1

⇔

ich

2

⇔

musste

3

⇔

hoch

4

⇔

springen
Translate 'früher' in the following sentence: 'Früher war ich ärmer'.

'Used to' ✓

Match the German with the English.

sich befinden

⇔

to be situated ✓

sich erinnern an

⇔

to remember, remembering ✓

sich finden

⇔

to be found, to find oneself ✓

sich kümmern um

⇔

to take care of, be concerned about ✓

verletzen

⇔

to injure, injuring ✓

das Zeugnis

⇔

report ✓
Sort the words below into the correct order to translate the following sentence into German: 'We wanted to meet at the college'.

1

⇔

wir

2

⇔

wollten

3

⇔

uns

4

⇔

an

5

⇔

der

6

⇔

Hochschule

7

⇔

treffen
Sort the words below into the correct order to translate the following sentence into German: 'I was very happy'.

1

⇔

ich

2

⇔

habe

3

⇔

mich

4

⇔

sehr

5

⇔

gefreut
Fill in the gap in the following sentence with a form of 'sein': 'Er ist gestern gestorben; ich ______ traurig.'

'war' ✓
Fill in the gap in the following sentence with an appropriate adverb: 'Ich habe gern mit meiner Oma gesprochen aber ich habe ______ mein eigenes Ding gemacht.'

'lieber' ✓
What did the person in the following sentence most prefer doing? 'Ich habe gern Erklärungen gelesen, ich habe lieber mein Abitur gemacht, und am liebsten bin ich Arbeitgeber geworden.'

reading explanations

doing their A-Levels

becoming an employer ✓

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In two-verb structures, the reflexive pronoun normally comes after the first verb.
In the perfect tense, it is more common to use the simple past versions of ‘haben’, ‘sein’, and ‘es gibt’.
Use ‘früher’ in the perfect and imperfect tenses to mean ‘used to’.
Use ‘gern’, ‘lieber’, ‘am liebsten’ in the perfect and imperfect tenses to talk about likes and preferences.

Verbs that are reflexive in English must be reflexive in German and vice versa.

Different verbs are reflexive in different languages. For example, 'sich erinnern' is not reflexive in English.

Simple past - synonymous with the imperfect; German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; for example, 'war', 'hatte', 'gab'
Perfect tense - German two-word past tense using either 'haben' or 'sein' with a past participle
Reflexive verb - verb used to indicate doing something to yourself, e.g., 'to wash yourself'