KS3 · German · Year 9
Why? Two-verb structures with 'um ... zu', imperfect modals 'durfte', 'sollte'
Positive experiences: word order and prepositions
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IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/10
Your learning goal
I can answer the question 'why' using 'um ... zu', 'weil' or 'denn' clauses and I can use modal verbs in the imperfect and present tenses to discuss helping others in the past and present.
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Why? Two-verb structures with 'um ... zu', imperfect modals 'durfte', 'sollte': 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 answer the question 'why' using 'um ... zu', 'weil' or 'denn' clauses and I can use modal verbs in the imperfect and present tenses to discuss helping others in the past and present.
Key learning points
- Remove any umlauts from the stem of a modal verb and add -te for 1st and 3rd person singular imperfect tense.
- Remove any umlauts from the stem of a modal verb and add -test to form its 2nd person singular imperfect tense.
- 'Um ... zu', meaning 'in order to', is used with an infinitive to answer the question 'why'.
- 'Denn' (word order 1) and 'weil' (word order 3) both mean 'because' and can start clauses to answer the question 'why'.
Words to know
- um ... zu
- structure meaning 'in order to' with an infinitive
- modal verb
- verb of necessity or possibility ('must', 'can', 'want') used with a 2nd verb in the infinitive, which goes to the end
- 2-verb structure
- clause containing a conjugated verb and a 2nd verb in the infinitive
- imperfect tense
- German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing, e.g., 'war', 'hatte', 'gab'
Common mistakes
To answer the question 'why' you have to use 'weil' or 'denn', which mean 'because'.
The structure 'um ... zu' followed by an infinitive verb means 'in order to' and can be used to give a reason or say why something is done. This structure is the same for any tense.
For parents, carers and teachers
- Task B1b can be done as a verbal exercise in pairs. Task C1 can be adapted or extended for speaking practice to develop pupil confidence in varying structures for answering the question 'why'.