Today is the big day, guys.
Big day for what?
We're going to the museum.
I love museums.
I hope they have cool paintings.
But how can we vlog about it?
We could use some time phrases such as today or many years ago, as things in museumsalways relate to a moment in time.
Well, I guess it's time to learn about it.
Oh dear.
Firstly, we could use the phrase we're going to the museum today.
Because today refers to a point in time.
Genau!
It would be good to take note of how timing of an activity or event reshapes a sentence.
Without the time word or words, we would have we´re going to the museum; 'Wir gehen zum Museum.'
Once we add our time word 'Heute', meaning today, our sentence would become: 'Heute gehen wir zum Museum.'
Notice the difference?
The 'gehen' has moved.
Genau!
The verb always becomes the second idea in the sentence, followed by a person.
'Gehen wir', in this example.
Okay.
So, it wouldn't be: 'Heute wir gehen zum Museum.'
But it would be: 'Heute gehen wir zum Museum.'
Ja wunderbar!
But these kinds of phrases can refer to a location as well.
What if I want to talk about something that was painted in Paris?
Lots of painters painted there.
Then you would start the sentence with ´In Paris´, then say 'hat der Künstler das gemalt'.
Ah, so it stays at the start.
'In Paris hat der Künstler das gemalt.'
Nice one! You're finally getting the hang of this, but for today we mostly look at time.
Okay, so how would I say I'm going to the café now, my legs are tired?
Oh, we could have fun with this one.
So you could say that you have a 'Bärenhunger', which means you're as hungry as a bear.
Oh, after a long day of walking around and looking at exhibits, I do get pretty hungry.
So you would say: 'Jetzt habe ich einen Bärenhunger bekommen.'
Wow. 'Jetzt hat sie einen Bärenhunger bekommen.'
You're one hungry bear, Tina.
Oh, nice change of form, Malik!
Thanks.
I think it's time to practise at the museum.
Wow! What a place.
So much culture and history here.
We have the place to ourselves at the moment, but on the weekends, there's a lot more going on.
Hey, that's a time phrase we can use, Malik.
What? On the weekends?
Yeah.
'Viel los an Wochenenden?'
Hmm the time part comes at the start of the sentence.
Oh, yeah.
My bad.
'An Wochenenden ist hier viel los.'
Super!
'An Wochenenden ist hier viel los.'
Oh, it looks like there's lots of activities in the holidays for families.
Wait, let me say that in German!
'In den Ferien Kunstaktivitäten für Familien es geben.'
Hmm, fast!
Remember, to turn that 'geben' into its present tense form and put it after 'Ferien'.
Oh, so it would be: 'In den Ferien gibt es Kunstaktivitäten für Familien.'
Nice one!
'In den Ferien gibt es Kunstaktivitäten für Familien.'
I think you guys are ready to go!
Some may say it's time to do some vlogging.
It's going to be a long day.
Hallo!
Heute gehen wir zum Museum.
Wir sind schon im Museum.
Achso, warte.
Hallo!
Heute sind wir im Museum.
Nicht so viel los im Moment…
And Wochenenden ist hier viel los.
Ja, aber jede Woche kommen Schulgruppen hier.
In den Ferien gibt es Kunstaktivitäten für Familien.
In Paris hat der Künstler das gemalt.
Heute sehen wir das Bild in Frankfurt.
Oh! Jetzt hat sie einen Bärenhunger bekommen.
Ich denke wir essen jetzt.
Tschüss!
In this episode, Heidi teaches Tina and Malik how a word order main clause inversion functions in German.
They also learn about time words such as heute and Wochenenden.
After some practice rounds they head over to the museum and implement what they've learned about word order, main clause inversions and use time phrases during their vlogging session.
This short film is from the BBC Teach series German Grammar and Vocabulary.
Teacher Notes
Before you watch the episode
You may wish to revise standard German word order with the verb as the second idea in the sentence, together with any time phrases students have learned. Depending on your focus and the students' stage of learning, you may wish to cover this in more than one tense.
During watching the episode
The video may be paused to clarify students’ understanding of the concepts, for example:
- by predicting the sentences
- by correcting the word order errors ahead of the answers being shown on screen
- by substituting alternative time phrases in some examples
- by reframing the sentences in a different tense from the one given in the film.
After watching the episode
The episode lends itself to further exploitation of time or place phrases within the context and location - e.g. museum, sightseeing/town visit. The phrases can also be adapted for use in any thematic context within the GCSE.
Students can be encouraged to:
- Identify a range of phrases to practise the main clause inversion - to include additional adverbs/time phrases for use in different tenses.
- Practise - in writing/speaking in pair or team challenges - the use of the time phrases and word order inversion in relevant tenses - both within contexts, but also emphasising the accurate use of the structure across themes/contexts.
- Additional options - depending on stage of teaching and adaptive teaching requirements within the class - for adverbs/adverbial phrases for manner and place.
Key vocabulary used in the episode:
| Part of Speech | German | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| adv | heute | today |
| adv | jetzt | now |
| time phrase | am Wochenende | at the weekend |
| time phrase | an Wochenenden | at weekends |
| time phrase | in den Ferien | in the holidays |
| time phrase | jede Woche | every week |
| adv | schon | already |
| adv | hier | here |
| hier ist viel los | there's lots (going) on here | |
| v | malen | to paint |
| n (m) | Künstler | artist |
| v | malen | (to) paint / painting |
| v (pp) | gemalt | painted |
| idiom | einen Bärenhunger haben | to be ravenous |
More German grammar and vocabulary
The present tense. video
This episode places emphasis on the verbs gehen, essen, besichtigen and verstehen.
The perfect tense with haben. video
How to use the perfect tense with the verb haben and how to form the past participle of the verb.
The perfect tense with sein. video
How to use the perfect tense with the verb sein. Additionally, the episode places emphasis on the verbs gehen, ahren, and fliegen.
The future tense with werden. video
How to use the future tense with the verb werden.
Making things negative (changing to the opposite meaning) video
How to make things negative using nicht and kein.
The imperfect of haben and sein. video
How to use the imperfect forms of the verbs haben and sein, and the modal verb forms of können and wollen, which are regularly used when talking about the past.
Modals. video
Modals, which help when talking about what one has, wants, and is allowed to do.
Asking questions. video
How to ask questions using the question words Wer, Was, Wo, Wann and Wie.
Word order with subordinating conjunctions. video
How subordinating conjunctions change the order of words in a sentence.
