KS3 · German · Year 9

What you used to do: perfect tense with 'ihr' (you, familiar pl.) and 'früher'

Past lives: perfect and imperfect tenses

Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.

IllumED Slides

IllumED · 1/11

Your learning goal

I know how to form and use the perfect tense in German, including the 'ihr' form, to discuss past events with other people.

1 of 11

What you used to do: perfect tense with 'ihr' (you, familiar pl.) and 'früher': 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.

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What you’ll learn

I know how to form and use the perfect tense in German, including the 'ihr' form, to discuss past events with other people.

Key learning points

Form the perfect tense with the present tense of 'haben' or 'sein', plus a past participle at the end of the statement.
Form most past participles by adding 'ge-' and '-t' around the verb stem. '-ieren' verbs do not add 'ge-'.
Verbs with prefixes 'be-', 'ver-', 'er-' don't add 'ge-' to form past participles. Their prefixes are never stressed.
The subject pronoun 'ihr' means 'you (familiar, plural)'.
Use the adverb 'früher' to translate 'used to' from English, e.g., 'Ich habe früher getanzt, aber jetzt nicht mehr.'.

Words to know

perfect tense: verb tense that describes completed actions in the past, e.g.,'I (have) said', 'she (has) played'
past participle: verb form that forms the perfect tense, together with the auxiliary verbs 'haben' or 'sein'
ihr: subject pronoun meaning 'you (familiar, plural)'
früher: adverb meaning 'previously, in former times, in the past'

Common mistakes

All past participles are formed the same way.

Weak verbs form their past participles by sandwiching 'ge-' and '-t' around the verb stem. Strong verbs sandwich 'ge-' and '-en' around the verb stem, but verbs with prefixes 'be-', 'ver-', 'er-', or ending '-ieren', do not add 'ge-'.

For parents, carers and teachers

Extend Task B2 into a class speaking activity. In groups, students can ask each other the questions and practise using 'ihr' in the perfect tense.