GCSE German: Making things negative (changing to the opposite meaning)

Secondary Resources > Grammar and Vocabulary

In this episode Tina and Malik are visiting Heidi's apartment and are introduced to how to make things negative, or change to the opposite meaning, in German through the use of nicht and kein.

After learning about the basic rule that kein is used when you want to make a noun negative, and nicht for verbs and adjectives, Tina and Malik are eager to show off what they've learned at the main train station.

This short film is from the BBC Teach series German Grammar and Vocabulary.

Teacher Notes

Before you watch the episode

As this area of grammar is often tricky, given the differences between German and English, it is potentially worth practising simple examples with kein and nouns, and then with nicht for verbs and adjectives. With kein, practice could include appropriate endings dependent on gender and case.

During watching the episode

You might like to pause the video to encourage students to demonstrate their understanding of the grammar points: for example, on a second watching of the video to give the correct negative form before the actors do so.

After watching the episode - Follow-up questions, activities to further explore learning

For the use of kein, students could respond to a teacher or pair-work challenge for the correct gender and case of kein, based on a range of high frequency nouns across a range of GCSE topic areas. Students could be further challenged to revise/extend vocabulary by using nicht with a range of adjectives to describe the chosen nouns.

When practising nicht with verbs, teachers may want to build on the introduction in this episode by using the BBC Bitesize material on the position of nicht with types of verbs, different tenses, and changes depending on the element being negated.

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.

Key vocabulary used in the episode:

More German grammar and vocabulary