KS3 · German · Year 8
Plans for this weekend: present tense (future meaning), 'nach' vs 'zu' (dative)
Making plans: present and future tenses
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can use the present tense plus a future time phrase to discuss plans for the weekend, and can correctly use 'nach' or 'zu' to say where I plan to go.
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Plans for this weekend: present tense (future meaning), 'nach' vs 'zu' (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 present tense plus a future time phrase to discuss plans for the weekend, and can correctly use 'nach' or 'zu' to say where I plan to go.
Key learning points
- At the start or in the middle of German words, [d] sounds like English 'd'. At the end, it sounds like 't'.
- Use time phrases, e.g., 'am Montag', with the present tense to refer to future plans.
- Emphasis on whatever is first in the sentence. You can use inversion (word order 2) to create this emphasis.
- 'Nach' means 'to' with place names, continents and most countries. 'Zu' means 'to' when used with places with articles.
- Use zu with people, professions and events, e.g., 'Ich gehe zu Oma.'.
Words to know
- [d]
- pronounced as in 'und', 'Kinder'
- time phrase
- word or multi-word phrase that describes when something happens, e.g., 'am Montag'
- nach
- word meaning 'to', used with place names, continents and most countries, never followed by the definite article
- zu
- word meaning 'to', used with places that need articles and with people, professions and events, followed by the dative case
Common mistakes
You can only begin an inversion sentence (word order two) with a time phrase, nothing else.
The emphasis is on whatever comes first in the sentence when using inversion (word order 2). It is acceptable to put the object of the sentence before the verb. For example, 'Den Kaffee trinken wir heute'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Complete a class survey as a follow-up speaking activity using students' work from Task C1.