KS4 · German · Year 10
Liest du Romane? Questions and informal imperatives with strong verbs
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IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can use present tense strong verbs to ask questions and use the informal imperative to give instructions or advice in the context of free-time activities.
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Liest du Romane? Questions and informal imperatives with strong verbs: 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 present tense strong verbs to ask questions and use the informal imperative to give instructions or advice in the context of free-time activities.
Key learning points
- Strong verbs in the present tense change the stem vowel in the 2nd and 3rd person singular: e - i, e - ie, or a - ä.
- Use 'du' questions for informal singular ‘you’, and 'ihr' questions for informal plural ‘you’.
- Strong verbs retain the present tense stem vowel change in the 'du' form of the imperative but they omit the umlaut.
- To use the 'ihr' form of the imperative of weak and strong verbs, just remove the pronoun 'ihr'.
- 'Sein' is irregular in the 'du' form of the imperative. Use 'sei' for the 'du' form and 'seid' for the 'ihr' form.
Words to know
- strong verb
- a verb whose stem vowel changes in the ‘du’ and ‘er, sie, es’ forms in the present tense
- imperative
- a mood used to tell somebody to do something or give instructions or commands
- du
- subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, informal and singular
- ihr
- subject pronoun meaning ‘you’, informal and plural
Common mistakes
Strong verbs never keep their stem changes in the 'du' form of the imperative.
Strong verbs keep stem vowel changes, e.g. 'e' to 'i', 'e' to 'ie', but omit the umlaut ('ä') in the imperative.
For parents, carers and teachers
- The formation of the imperative is Higher-only grammar, so teachers of Foundation-only classes might wish to continue to practise present tense strong verbs in a different way. One idea would be to turn Task B2 into a question and answer speaking activity.