KS3 · German · Year 8
Exchange gifts: 'von' and 'für', possessive adjectives (accusative and dative)
Family and friends: verbs with indirect objects
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IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can use the prepositions 'für' and 'von' and dative verbs to write about exchanging gifts with friends and family.
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Exchange gifts: 'von' and 'für', possessive adjectives (accusative and dative): 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.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can use the prepositions 'für' and 'von' and dative verbs to write about exchanging gifts with friends and family.
Key learning points
- Circumlocution is an effective way to deepen word knowledge, making use of synonyms, antonyms or short descriptions.
- Possessive adjectives follow the same pattern as indefinite articles 'ein', 'eine', 'ein', changing for gender and case.
- The preposition 'für' ('for') is always followed by the accusative case; 'von' ('from') by the dative.
- Dative verbs are always used with indirect object pronouns: 'mir', 'dir', 'ihm', 'ihr' - (to, for) me, you, him, her.
Words to know
- circumlocution
- descriptive phrase to define something without saying its exact name
- für
- preposition 'for', which is always followed by the accusative case
- von
- preposition 'from', which is always followed by the dative case
- possessive adjective
- word that goes before a noun to show ownership or belonging, e.g., my, your
- dative verb
- verb that is used with an indirect object pronoun
Common mistakes
If we want to say 'her' in German, the word is always 'ihr'.
After many verbs, the word for 'her' is 'sie'; same as the word for 'she', e.g., 'ich frage sie'. The word 'ihr' means 'her' after a dative verb, e.g., 'ich antworte ihr'. 'Ihr' is also the possessive adjective 'her', e.g., 'ihr Lieblingsgeschenk'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Once learners have a number of synonyms in their vocabulary, simple circumlocution becomes a great way to deepen vocabulary knowledge, e.g., 'es ist ein anderes Wort für ...'. Also, if teachers teach this lesson close to a festive period, pupils could talk about gifts they have given and received.