KS3 · German · Year 8

Exchange gifts: verbs with indirect objects

Family and friends: verbs with indirect objects

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Your learning goal

I can use verbs with direct and indirect object pronouns to talk about things we do to and for others.

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Exchange gifts: verbs with indirect objects: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.

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What you’ll learn

I can use verbs with direct and indirect object pronouns to talk about things we do to and for others.

Key learning points

German vowels can be long or short; vowels followed by more than one consonant are short; other vowels are long.
Some German and English cognates or near-cognates have the same pronunciation of [i] ('Kilo'); others not ('Musik').
Many German verbs are followed by direct objects; personal direct object pronouns are 'mich', 'dich', 'ihn', 'sie'.
With certain German verbs we use indirect objects; personal indirect object pronouns are 'mir', 'dir', 'ihm', 'ihr'.
Sometimes indirect object pronouns mean ‘to me’, ‘to you’, etc., but they can just mean ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘him’, ‘her’.

Words to know

indirect object pronoun (IOP): replaces the person, people or thing(s) that the verb action is done to, when the action is to me, for you
mir: indirect object pronoun (to/for) me
dir: indirect object pronoun (to/for) you
ihm: indirect object pronoun (to/for) him
ihr: indirect object pronoun (to/for) her

Common mistakes

The German pronoun for singular informal 'you' is always 'du'.

German uses 'du' as subject pronoun, 'dich' as direct object pronoun, and 'dir' as indirect object pronoun. There are also two object pronouns for 'me'. E.g., 'Du fragst mich.' ('You ask me.'), 'Du antwortest mir.' ('You answer me'.).

For parents, carers and teachers

To identify dative verbs, i.e., a verb that requires an indirect object, it can help to prompt pupils to ask, ‘Can you do or give this to/for someone else?’. E.g., 'Ich danke ihm' - 'I thank him' = 'I give thanks to him'. Some pupils may just find it better to learn these verbs as a set.