GCSE German: The present tense

Secondary Resources > Grammar and Vocabulary

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In this episode Malik and Tina aim to learn how to talk about what they are currently doing in Frankfurt; therefore, Heidi teaches them how to use the present tense in German.

The episode places emphasis on the verbs gehen, essen, besichtigen and verstehen.

After some trial and error, Malik and Tina manage to correctly apply what they've learned during their vlog in a local park.

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

Teacher Notes

Before you watch the episode

You may wish to introduce or recap with the students a range of high frequency verbs in the present tense that they have used in whatever context(s) or topic(s) they have covered so far. For example: school, town, family, or free time activities. The episode can then be used either to extend their knowledge of all forms of the verb, or as a refresher if they have already been introduced to these. Prior knowledge of the formation of strong verbs is helpful, but can be taught and consolidated in a teaching sequence using this episode.

Watching the episode

Depending on your lesson’s focus, you may wish to pause the video at certain points to check for understanding and to consolidate prior knowledge. For example:

With the verb gehen recap the standard verb endings beyond the ich gehe form in the video.
With the verb essen
- which forms of the verb change vowel? (du and er/sie/es)
- And if the verb endings are the same, how is the du form different here? (t rather than st) Why?
Which other vowel sounds change in strong verbs - a - ä, (laufen included later in episode, schlafen, fahren) long e (lesen) - ie

After watching the episode

If not completed as an introductory exercise, create with the class a list of other present tense verbs used within a range of topic areas - e.g. town, school, free time activities, festivals. The verbs could then be practised in a whole class or pair work question and answer challenge using a range of common verbs, both weak and strong. Additional practice can be built in with questions and answers in different forms.

Example:

Was machst du?…Ich gehe ins Kino
Was macht er/sie?…er/sie isst eine Schnitzelsemmel
Was macht ihr?…Wir kaufen Pommes
Was mache ich?…(partner/class to suggest options: du fährst nach Frankfurt, du liest ein Buch…)

Further options could include games to practise translating questions and answers from English to German. This could accommodate the use of this single version of the German present tense to accommodate both the English present simple for repeated actions (I play football [every week]) vs present continuous for ongoing activities (I am playing football [at the moment]).

Key vocabulary used in the episode:

Part of Speech	German	English equivalent
n (m)	Freund	friend
v	gehen	(to) go (to + noun)to) go (to + noun) / going (to + noun);
n (nt)	Museum	museum
v	essen	to eat / eating
n (f)	Küche	kitchen, cuisine
v	essen	to eat / eating
v	besichtigen	to visit / visiting to sightsee
n (f)	Stadt	town
v	verstehen	to understand \| understanding
v	sein	to be / being
v	sind	we) are / (we) are being / [also: (they) are / (they) are being / (you (formal)) are / (you (formal)) are being]
n (m)	Bahnhof	Train station (in the idiom ich verstehe nur Bahnhof this literally means I don't understand train station - but translates as I don’t understand a word)
n (nt)	Schnitzel	Schnitzel
n (f)	Schnitzelsemmel	(bread) roll, bun, sandwich
v	laufen	(to) run, running
v	rumlaufen	(separable verb, colloquial) to walk around / walking around
n (pl)	Leute	(pl) people, folks
v	lieben	to love/loving
pron	euch	you(pl, familiar) yourselves (reflex) / each other (reciprocal)

Video TranscriptVideo Transcript

Teacher Notes

More German grammar and vocabulary