Hey, Heidi!
Whilst we've been in Frankfurt, there have been plenty of ways to get around with public transport.
The ´Verkehrsmittel´.
Yeah, and we can't get enough!
How do we talk about getting from one place to the other in German?
And in the past tense! Vlogging whilst on the move is stressful, it's easier to talk about it afterwards.
Yeah well, for getting from one place to the other, we would use the perfect tense using 'sein'.
'Sein' means to be, however, you're not becoming the public transport, but it relates to a change of place or location.
To transport or not to transport.
That is the question.
Yeah, you got it!
So, for the different forms we have:Ich bin, Du bist, Er/Sie/Es ist,Wir sind, Ihr seid, Sie/sie sind.
And then after that we would only use these when talking about verbs that talk about movement, such as; 'fahren', 'gehen' and 'fliegen'.
Hmm…okay.
But remember, those verbs will be put in their past participle form, these are the ones that have 'ge' at the start.
But you need to learn those irregular endings.
Luckily, most of them end with 'en' anyways.
Can you give us a quick example?
Yeah.
If we use 'fahren' - to drive, the past participle is already 'fahren'.
So, no change there.
And then you'd add the 'ge' and we'd get 'gefahren'!
Additionally, you would have to put the past participle at the end of the sentence.
We'd love to talk about how we travelled using the trams.
We don't get many of those in the UK compared to Germany.
Yeah, well then, you would use 'sein' and 'gefahren' from earlier to create: 'Wir sind mit der Straßenbahn gefahren.'
So, if I wanted to talk about how I flew in here, I would use 'Flugzeug' and 'fliegen', because you don't drive in by plane, you fly in by plane!
Don't forget the 'sein'.
Oh, sorry.
So we would have… 'Ich sind mit dem Flugzeug geflogen.'
Almost! It would be: 'Ich bin mit dem Flugzeug geflogen.'
Don't forget, that 'sein' transforms depending on the person.
Ugh, you're really getting on my nerves, Tina.
That's also a sentence we can create using the 'sein' form.
No way!
Yeah, we can easily say: 'Du bist mir auf die Nerven gegangen.'
Which would literally translate to: You went on my nerves.
Wait.
But 'gegangen' also refers to walking as well.
Yeah.
So we could easily say: 'Er/Sie ist zu Fuß gegangen.'
Well, I think we're ready to walk out and start vlogging, Malik.
Yeah.
Let's go!
Okay, so the tram stop is over there, and we're just preparing to talk about it before we go over.
Ironically, we came here by tram.
How would you talk about arriving by tram?
Wir sind……mit der Straßenbahn…gefahren!
Wunderbar!
You guys are doing so well.
Wir sind mit der Straßenbahn gefahren.
I want to talk about how I flew here.
Go on then!
Hmm. Ich bin geflogen mit dem Flugzeug.
Err fast. The 'geflogen' comes at the end of the sentence.
Oh, so it's: 'Ich bin mit dem Flugzeug geflogen.'
Yeah. 'Ich bin mit dem Flugzeug geflogen.'
You should have been there, Heidi. Tina was snoring!
She was really getting on my nerves.
Wait a minute.
Didn´t we learn that phrase as well?
Yeah. Let's see if you remember it.
'Du bist mir auf die Nerven gegangen.'
Nice!
Du bist mir auf die Nerven gegangen.
Okay, we get it Malik.
Hallo Leute!
Hier sind wir, der Vlog beginnt!
Es gibt viele verschiedene Vekehrsmittel in Frankfurt.
Ja, wir haben einige Verkehrsmittel benutzt.
Wir sind mit der Straßenbahn gefahren.
Ich bin mit dem Flugzeug geflogen.
Was? Jetzt?
Ugh. Du bist mir auf die Nerven gegangen.
War nur ein Witz.
Sie ist zu Fuß gegangen.
Immer!
Das wars schon Leute!
Bis zur nächsten Folge!
Ciao!
Tschüss!
In this episode Tina and Malik are vlogging about the different types of public transport they've been using in Frankfurt.
Heidi teaches them how to use the perfect tense with the verb sein.
Additionally, the episode places emphasis on the verbs gehen, fahren, and fliegen.
This short film is from the BBC Teach series German Grammar and Vocabulary.
Teacher Notes
Before you watch the episode
You may wish to revisit the conjugation of sein, and as the episode concentrates on gehen, fahren, and fliegen, it may be worth revisiting the irregular past participles. Either before of after the episode, you may wish also to reinforce that this tense can be translated with the simple past or the present perfect in English - for example ich bin gegangen could be I went or I have gone.
During watching the episode
Depending on the focus of the lesson, you may wish to pause the video ahead of the conjugation of sein to set a challenge for the students, to clarify/correct the word order to ensure that the past participle comes at the end of the sentence. In addition, you may wish to exploit the use of the idiom du bist mir auf die Nerven gegangen, with practice of this idiom with different verb forms. (eg Mein Bruder ist/Meine Eltern sind mir auf die Nerven gegangen)
After watching the episode
Options include exploiting these key verbs in the past tense in both speaking and writing challenges/pair work with different modes of transport across a range of contexts (town, home life, free time, healthy living, school, holidays, environment).
- Wie bist du zur Schule/in Urlaub/ in die Stadt/mit deinen Freunden/gefahren?
Adaptive teaching can allow for students to learn/revisit the broader range of verbs taking sein in the perfect tense, again with challenges to form sentences for each verb in a range of contexts: (gehen, fahren, fliegen, schwimmen, laufen, springen, reisen etc.)
Teachers could also, depending on stage of learning, refer to/practise the three key additional and high frequency verbs taking sein, which are not verbs of movement - sein, bleiben, werden.
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:
| Part of Speech | German | English equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| v | sein | (to) be, being. However, as auxiliary for the perfect tense of verbs of movement (intransitive verbs, plus bleiben, sein and werden, its meaning changes and it translates in two different ways, as shown in the following examples of the past tense of the verb “fliegen” to fly, flying. |
| v | ich bin | …geflogen… I flew/I have flown |
| v | du bist | … geflogen - you flew/have flown |
| v | er/sie/es ist | …geflogen… he/sie/it flew/I has flown |
| v | wir sind | … geflogen - we flew/have flown |
| v | ihr seid | … geflogen - you (pl,familiar) flew/have flown |
| Sie/sie sind | …geflogen… you (formal) they flew/I have flown | |
| v | fliegen | (to) fly, flying |
| v (pp) | (auxiliary)…geflogen | flew/ (has) flown |
| v | fahren | (to) go (by transport), drive / going (by transport), driving |
| v (pp) | (auxiliary)…gefahren | went , (has) gone, drove, (has) driven (by transport) |
| n (nt) | Flugzeug | aeroplane |
| n (f) | Bahn | train, railway, way |
| n (f) | Straßenbahn | tram |
| v | gehen | (to) go (to + noun)to) go (to + noun) / going (to + noun); |
| v (pp) | (auxiliary)…gegangen | went / (have, has) gone |
| n/a | jemandem auf die Nerven gehen | (to) get on someone's nerves / getting on someone's nerves |
| n (m) | Fuß | foot |
| zu Fuß | on foot | |
| adv | fast | almost |
| v | beginnen | to begin / beginning |
| n (pl) | Verkehrsmittel | modes of transport |
| adv | jetzt | now |
| n (m) | Witz | joke |
| adv | immer | always |
| adj | nächst-(er, e, es), nächste | next (m, f, nt), (pl) |
| n (f) | Folge | episode |
| adj | verschieden | different, diverse |
| v | benutzen | to use / using |
| pron | einige | a few, some |
| adj | wunderbar | wonderful |
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 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.
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.
