KS3 · German · Year 9
Festivals and traditions: using plural verbs reflexively
Ordinary routines and special events: reflexive verbs
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/10
Your learning goal
I can use verbs reflexively to describe people's self-directed actions in the context of traditional festivals.
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Festivals and traditions: using plural verbs reflexively: 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 verbs reflexively to describe people's self-directed actions in the context of traditional festivals.
Key learning points
- Idioms are expressions that often don’t have a literal meaning and may not translate directly into another language.
- Several German idioms include ‘Wurst’ because sausage is a culturally important German food, popular at many festivals.
- Stress is part of intonation and syllable stress refers to the syllable in a word that is spoken more strongly.
- Plural reflexive pronouns 'uns', 'euch' and 'sich' make verbs reflexive when subject and object are the same.
- In sentences where subject and object are different, 'uns' (us) and 'euch' (you all) are object pronouns.
Words to know
- idiom
- phrase whose meaning isn’t always literal and doesn’t always translate word for word
- stress
- pronouncing one syllable more heavily than other syllables in a word
- reflexive pronoun
- used to indicate doing something to yourself, words like ‘myself’ and ‘yourself’
Common mistakes
The meaning of all German phrases should be taken literally.
Just like English, German contains idioms, phrases that mean something other than their literal meaning, e.g., ‘da haben wir den Salat’ - 'we have the salad there', which should be understood as 'now we have a problem'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Teachers may wish to explore the cultural aspects of the lesson by showing students video clips of Oktoberfest celebrations, e.g., the serving of Wurst, traditional costumes and 'Blasmusik' - brass or woodwind band music, and also the Kölner Karneval.