KS3 · German · Year 8
Where you went and where you were: 'in', 'an', 'auf', time with 'vor' and 'nach'
Past events: perfect and imperfect tenses, adjective agreement and comparatives
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/9
Your learning goal
I can use 'in', 'an', and 'auf' with the accusative and dative to say where I went or was on a past holiday, and I can understand the time past and to the hour.
1 of 9
Where you went and where you were: 'in', 'an', 'auf', time with 'vor' and 'nach': 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 'in', 'an', and 'auf' with the accusative and dative to say where I went or was on a past holiday, and I can understand the time past and to the hour.
Key learning points
- ‘Nach’ means 'past' and ‘vor’ means 'to' the hour when saying the time.
- In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, greetings vary by region and time of day.
- The accusative is used with 'in', 'an', 'auf' when there is movement to a place, e.g., ‘ich gehe in den Zoo’.
- The dative is used with 'in', 'an', 'auf' when the person is at or in a place, e.g., ‘ich bin im Zoo’.
Words to know
- preposition
- a word that is used before a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to another word
- accusative
- case used for the direct object in a sentence, after most verbs and some prepositions
- dative
- case used for the indirect object in a sentence and after a dative verb or preposition
Common mistakes
To greet German speakers, use either ‘hallo’ or ‘guten Tag’.
Greetings in German-speaking countries vary depending on time of day, country/region and level of formality, e.g., ‘hallo’ in Germany but ‘servus’ in Austria and ‘hoi’ in Switzerland.
For parents, carers and teachers
- The island of Sylt is a cultural focus for this lesson. Teachers may wish to take the opportunity to share short videos of the island to widen students' understanding of the importance of Sylt to German people. Videos are readily available online.