Wow Heidi, we've explored and seen so much of Frankfurt so far.
Yeah, but we haven't had the chance to get to know the people yet.
Well, you know, I'm a local, so I have a story to tell.
Of course.
And to tell these tales, we would use the imperfect tense of 'sein' and 'haben'.
Both of them are irregular verbs, so it's important to learn!
Interesting!
So, here we also have the different forms depending on the subject.
So, for 'haben' we have:Ich hatte, Du hattest, Er/Sie/Es hatte,Wir hatten, Ihr hattet, Sie/sie hatten.And for 'sein' it would be:Ich war, Du warst, Er/Sie/Es war,Wir waren, Ihr wart, Sie/sie waren.
I thought, because you guys are picking it up so well, we could also look at some modal verbs.
Yeah.
Sounds good.
If we want to talk about the past, there are a variety of modal verbs out there, but we'll be looking at 'können', to be able to, and 'wollen', to want to.
The irregular forms would be 'konnte' and 'wollte'.
To create the different forms of these verbs, first find the stem and remove the Umlaut if there is one.
For the Ich, Er/Sie/Es form we would add a 'te' at the end.
For the "Du-Form", we you would add an 'st' on top of that.
Lastly, for the we form, we would add an 'n' instead.
Ich wollte, Du wolltest, Er/Sie/Es wollte,Wir wollten, Ihr wolltet, Sie/sie wollten.
And that's also how you create the imperfect tense and weak verbs also have the same endings.
Okay, okay.
So can you give us an example?
Yeah!
To say we wanted to discover it, we could say: Wir wollten es entdecken.
Let's get out there and discover Heidi's life story.
Here we are.
This is where you went when you were younger?
Ja.
To start off our vlog, we could say something along the lines of: we wanted to learn about your childhood.
Ja.
That would work.
For that you would use 'wollten'.
Let's see what you remember.
Wir wollte…Heidis Kindheit lernen?
Fast.
Wir wollten über Heidis Kindheit lernen.
It's about my childhood.
Okay, so: Wir wollten über Heidis Kindheit lernen.
You bet!
You're such a joker, Heidi!
Some may say, I'm a Spaßvogel.
What's that?
A fun bird!
Well, just a German expression for someone who's a joker, likes having a laugh.
How do we use that in a sentence?
Er…Sie war ein Spaßvogel.
We could say that, we could say something like: she could tell us a lot she was a real joker.
Perfect.
That uses 'konnte' as well as 'war', which is an imperfect of 'sein'.
Sie konnte erzählen, war ein Spaßvogel.
Fast! Sie konnte viel darüber erzählen, denn sie war ein echter Spaßvogel.
Sie konnte viel darüber erzählen, denn sie war ein echter Spaßvogel.
Wunderbar! Let's roll.
Hallo Leute! Wir wollten heute über Heidis Kindheit lernen.
Da kommt sie!
Hi!
Tag!
Ich war früher oft hier im Park, als ich jung war.
Interessant!
Wir wollten den Park entdecken.
Ja. Ich hatte viel Spaß
Sie konnte viel darüber erzählen, denn sie war ein echter Spaßvogel.
Sie hatte hier ein interessantes Leben.
Genau!
Das wars schon, bis zum nächsten Mal!
Tschüss!
In this episode Tina and Malik learn how to use the imperfect of the verbs haben and sein.
Heidi emphasises that both are important, yet irregular verbs. Additionally, she teaches them the modal verb forms of können and wollen which are regularly used when talking about the past.
Later on in a park, the two vloggers use their new knowledge about German grammar to talk about Heidi´s childhood.
This short film is from the BBC Teach series German Grammar and Vocabulary.
Teacher Notes
Before you watch the episode
If the imperfect tense is new to students, it could be useful to model and practise the use of es gibt/es gab (there is, there are / there was, there were) with the use of common time phrases - gestern, “letztes Jahr etc. to establish the use of the imperfect for this expression. Teaching/revisiting could then include sein and haben in the imperfect tense, with time markers to encourage students to use both present and imperfect tense - Jetzt habe ich viele Freunde und ich bin sehr extrovertiert aber [früher/damals/als Kind] hatte ich immer Angst und ich war nervös”
Modal verbs are included in this episode as when used to describe actions/desire in the past they are most commonly used in the imperfect tense. If already taught, these can be revisited before watching, but the episode can be used to introduce the structures.
During watching the episode
Depending on the focus of the lesson, the video could be paused to check on the understanding and formation of the imperfect forms of haben and sein.
Teachers may also want to pause the video to highlight the removal of the umlaut where relevant (muss, konn, durf) for the imperfect tense stem, and the endings which match hatte but also are a stepping stone to the imperfect tense for regular verbs.
After watching the episode
Depending on prior learning, follow-on activities could include
- Practising different persons of the verbs haben and sein, including sein for weather adjectives, descriptions, opinions with adjectives and reinforcement of phrases using haben in the past tense - eg. ich hatte Hunger/Durst/Angst (I was hungry, thirsty, scared) or opinion phrases Ich hatte Gluck/Pech (I was lucky/unlucky) etc
- Practising additional modal verbs dürfen, müssen across different topics or contexts, for example school rules, rules at home. (Additional support as required for use of müssen in the negative - I don’t have to vs I must not (dürfen)
- Adaptive teaching/extension for use of sollen, and mögen - which is the only irregular modal verb in the imperfect
- Encouraging development of longer structures/narrative with additional time phrases - jetzt/früher, als ich jünger war, In der Grundschule, vor zehn Jahren
- Practising translation into English, including the use of früher with imperfect to mean ‘I used to (do)…’
Curriculum Notes
England
This series has been produced to build on the key grammar requirements identified in the Modern Languages KS3 National Curriculum Programme of Study in England, and with both the current GCSE and upcoming GCSE (for first teaching in 2024) in mind.
Scotland
This series also meets the aims for teaching languages within the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in Scotland, specifically to:
- develop a secure understanding of how language works, and use language well to communicate ideas and information in English and other languages
- develop young people’s ‘communicative competence so that they are able to use and enjoy the language effectively in real situations, in relevant and realistic contexts
It also supports the objectives within the National 4 and 5 qualifications in supporting students in applying grammatical knowledge and understanding in productive skills (speaking and writing)
Wales and Northern Ireland
This video series fits in with the current curriculum in Wales and Northern Ireland in support of pupils taking German GCSE. Whilst the Languages, Literacy and Communication section of the new Curriculum for Wales (2022) gives greater flexibility on the teaching of International Languages (including German) the content of this series will support the development of core grammar knowledge within the broader aims of the curriculum.
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.
Modals. video
Modals, which help when talking about what one has, wants, and is allowed to do.
Word order - starting with a time phrase. video
How a word order main clause inversion functions in German.
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.
