KS3 · German · Year 8
Since when and for how long? 'seit' with present, 'vor' with perfect tense
Last year or this year: present and perfect tenses
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can use dative prepositions ‘seit’ and ‘vor’ to say how long ago something happened, when it started, or how long it has been going on for.
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Since when and for how long? 'seit' with present, 'vor' with perfect tense: 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 dative prepositions ‘seit’ and ‘vor’ to say how long ago something happened, when it started, or how long it has been going on for.
Key learning points
- Long [e] and [ä] make similar sounds but knowing the difference is important for speaking and listening.
- The prepositions 'seit', 'vor' and 'bei' are followed by the dative case.
- 'Seit' means 'since' or 'for' and is used with the present tense and a unit of time in the dative.
- 'Vor' can mean ago and is used with the perfect tense and a unit of time in the dative.
- 'Bei' means 'at (the house of)', 'for' or 'with' and is followed by a noun or pronoun in the dative.
Words to know
- seit
- preposition meaning ‘since’ or ‘for’, followed by the dative case
- vor
- preposition meaning ‘ago’, followed by the dative case
- bei
- preposition meaning ‘at (the house of)', ‘for’ or ‘with’, followed by the dative case
- dative
- case used for the indirect object in a sentence and after a dative verb or preposition
Common mistakes
To mean 'for' with a period of time, use 'vor' in German.
'Vor' means 'ago', e.g. vor zwei Jahren - two years ago. To mean 'for' with a period of time in the present tense, use 'seit'; in the past, add 'lang' after the time phrase, but don't use a preposition for 'for'.
For parents, carers and teachers
- There is a great opportunity in LC2 for teachers to talk to students about the importance of regular vocabulary practice beyond the classroom. Teachers may also wish to suggest online resources to support their learning, of which there are several available.