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German word patterns

Resource collection 2

�Artwork: Steve Clarke

Date updated: 21/09/ 21

Rachel Hawkes

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Word patterns

Grammatik

English 'C' 🡪 German 'K'

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T1.1 Week 5 Slides 16-17

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

October is a month.

Oktober ist ein Monat.

Translate these sentences.

1. Der Zug fährt direkt.

2. I love music and I’m doing a project.

What would the following words be in German?

discussion (f)�contact (m)�article (m)�costs (pl)�product (nt)�Choose one and write a sentence in German.

Change English ‘c’ to ‘k’ to create many German words.

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ANTWORTEN

Der Zug fährt direkt.
I love music and I‘m doing a project.
discussion (f)
contact (m)
article (m)
costs (pl)
product (nt)�

The train goes direct(ly).
Ich liebe Musik und ich mache ein Projekt.
die Diskussion
der Kontakt
der Artikel
die Kosten
das Produkt

What do you notice about the gender of these nouns?

Don’t forget to pronounce the words.

In German ‘el’ replaces English ‘le’

‘en’ is a common plural ending (Rule 3)

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Word patterns

Grammatik

English 'C' 🡪 German ‘Z'

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T1.2 Week 1 Slides 5-6

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

The principle is special.

das Prinzip ist speziell.

Translate these sentences.

1. Die Polizei ist hier wichtig.

2. My concentration is good.

What would the following words be in German?

social

central

concept (nt)

Choose one and write a sentence in German.

English ‘c’ can be German ‘z’ (as well as ‘k’).

When English ‘c’ is hard, German is‘k’. When English ‘c’ ist soft, German is often ‘z’.

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ANTWORTEN

Die Polizei ist hier wichtig.
My concentration is good.
social
central
concept

The police is important here.
Meine Konzentration ist gut.
sozial
zentral
das Konzept

Don’t forget to pronounce the words.

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Remove -en from infinitive verb to create noun

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T1.2 Week 4 Slides 12-13

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

All of these nouns are the stem of their sibling (matching) verb.

1. the work (f)
2. the fall, case (m)
3. the plan (m)
4. the part (m)
5. the game, match (nt)
6. the start (m) x 2�
7. the visit (m)

arbeiten

planen

anfangen

beginnen

fallen

spielen

besuchen

Note: Students either know the noun or the verb (or both), or there is a cognate element. Both nouns and verbs are highly-frequent, almost all within the top 1000 words.�The genders of the new nouns are given in brackets next to the English word.��Students need to activate the following prior knowledge to complete the task:�1] definite articles for (m) - der, (f) - die, and (nt) - das nouns�2] capital letters needed on all nouns�3] stem is the word for the meaning carrying part of the verb, and (generally, and in all the examples in this task) is the full infinitive minus -en. ��Note: der was selected as the gender for Teil, here as students first learn the word of ‘part’ in the more abstract sense (e.g. first part of a match, film, book homework) rather than a physical component part.��Note: The five nouns in the 2^nd table are ‘stem + -e’. Teachers should draw attention to this additional pattern.

�Word frequency: �die Arbeit 208

der Fall 187

der Plan 954

der/das Teil 198

das Spiel 328

der Anfang 427

der Beginn 845�der Besuch

arbeiten 234

fallen 332

planen 579

teilen 906

spielen 205

anfangen 497

beginnen 251�besuchen

�Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2019). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

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ANTWORTEN�

All of these nouns are the stem of their sibling (matching) verb.

1. the work (f)
2. the fall, case (m)
3. the plan (m)
4. the part (m)
5. the game, match (nt)
6. the start (m) x 2�
7. the visit (m)

arbeiten

planen

anfangen

beginnen

fallen

spielen

die Arbeit

der Fall

der Plan

der Teil

das Spiel

der Anfang, �der Beginn

Don’t forget to pronounce the words!

der Besuch

besuchen

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Grammatik

Consolidation [1]

Y8 T3.1 Week 4 Slides 28-29

Word patterns

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German 🡨🡪 German�

These two nouns are the stem of their sibling (matching) verb.

1. the answer (f)
2. the attempt, try (m)

antworten

lieben

enden

versuchen

fragen

reden

folgen

Wie heißt das Verb auf Deutsch?

1. die Frage
2. die Rede
3. die Liebe
4. das Ende
5. die Folge

Timing: 5 minutes��Aim: to make connections between German noun and verb forms.�

Procedure: �1. Complete the tasks.�2. Use the answer slides to feed back and check answers.�

Note: Students either know the noun or the verb (or both), or there is a cognate element. Both nouns and verbs are highly-frequent, almost all within the top 1000 words.�The genders of the new nouns are given in brackets next to the English word.��Students need to activate the following prior knowledge to complete the task:�1] definite articles for (m) - der, (f) - die, and (nt) - das nouns�2] capital letters needed on all nouns�3] stem is the word for the meaning-carrying part of the verb, and (generally, and in all the examples in this task) is the full infinitive minus -en. ��Note: The five nouns in the 2^nd table are ‘stem + -e’. Teachers should draw attention to this additional pattern.

�Word frequency: �die Antwort 522

der Versuch 791

die Frage 157

die Folge 431

die Liebe 844

die Rede 759

das Ende 183

antworten 826

versuchen 247

fragen 153

folgen 160

lieben 701

reden 368

enden 1313

�Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2019). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

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ANTWORTEN�

These two nouns are the stem of their sibling (matching) verb.

1. the answer (f)
2. the attempt, try (m)

antworten

lieben

enden

versuchen

fragen

reden

folgen

Wie heißt das Verb auf Deutsch?

1. die Frage
2. die Rede
3. die Liebe
4. das Ende
5. die Folge

fragen

reden

lieben

enden

folgen

die Antwort

der Versuch

Don’t forget to pronounce the words!

How do these nouns relate to the stem of their sibling verb?

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Word patterns

Grammatik

-ical in English to -isch in German

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T2.1 Week 6 Slides 2-3

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

Words ending in –ical

often change to -isch in German.

The music is classical.

Die Musik ist klassisch.

Note that ‘c’ is almost always ‘k’ in German, too.

Translate these sentences.�

1. Die Kirche ist sehr historisch.

2. That is typical (for England)!

What would the following words be in German?

biological

geographical

practical�electrical�Choose one and write a sentence in German.

Timing: 7 minutes (two slides)��Aim: To develop knowledge of word patterns within German.

Procedure:�1. Click to present the pattern and examples.�2. Given students time to complete the six short tasks.�3. Answers and further tasks on the next slide.

Word frequency: klassisch [882] historisch [901] typisch [1109] biologisch [2416] geographisch [3640] praktisch [840] elektrisch [1090] �katholisch [2932] demokratisch [1788] politisch [304] technisch [656] chemisch [761] kritisch [1241] statistisch [1590] komisch [1875]��Other -isch adjectives, that do not have the exact English-German pattern, but can be more easily recognised, once students know the pattern: elektronisch [1784] medizinisch [920] literarisch [2083] musikalisch [3565] künstlerisch [2222]��It is also worth considering that this is how many adjectives of nationality are created in German:�europäisch [335] amerikanisch [836] englisch [662] französisch [816] italienisch [1593] britisch [1419] spanisch [1919] türkisch [1531] russisch [831] österreichisch [1511] bayrisch [1383] chinesisch [1154] griechisch [1486]

Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2019). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

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ANTWORTEN

The church is very historical.
Das ist typisch (für England)!
biologisch
geografisch
praktisch
elektrisch

Pronounce the words.

Note that ‘c’ becomes ‘k’.

Die Kirche ist sehr historisch.
That is typical (for England)!
biological
geographical
practical
electrical

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Grammatik

Consolidation [1]

Y8 T3.2 Week 1 Slide 10

Word patterns

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English 🡪 German

1.

2.

3.

4.

Remember! Words ending in –ic or -ical

often change to -isch in German.

A cup of tea is typical.

Eine Tasse Tee ist typisch.

dynamic

dynamisch

English

German

systematic

systematisch

analytical

analytisch

symbolic

symbolisch

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Making adjectives into nouns

(e.g., die Kleinen, die Armen, die Reichen etc..)

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T2.2 Week 1 Slides 14-15

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

Making adjectives into plural nouns in German.

The rich have too much.

Die Reichen haben zu viel.

It’s a noun now, so needs a capital letter!

Translate these sentences.�

1. Die Kleinen und die Großen spielen zusammen.

2. The young need the old.

What would the following words be in German?

the first (ones)

the last (ones)

the new (ones)�the poor (ones)�Choose one and write a sentence in German.

Timing: 7 minutes��Aim: To become familiar with a new word pattern in German; creating plural nouns from adjectives. This is a common word pattern that will be explored further in Lesson 2, through the authentic song text, Früher.��Procedure:�1. Use the animations and present the information.

2. Students complete the tasks.

3. Use the following slide to check answers.

4. Don’t forget to ask students to pronounce the new words.

Word frequency:�alt [138] arm [1475] erst- [95] groß [67] jung [199] klein [110] letzt- [152] neu [84] reich [1658]

Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2019). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

�Note: This is not a full explanation that includes the singular persons. Students are learning the prenominal adjective system incrementally over the course of Y8.�They have already been taught prenominal adjective endings in R1 (nominative) and R2 (accusative) for singular and plural, definite and indefinite articles.�Using adjectives as nouns (singular) will be explored in Y9. For example, der Kleine (for the small one – masculine) etc..��

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ANTWORTEN

The little ones and the big ones play together.
Die Jungen brauchen die Alten.
die Ersten
die Letzten
die Neuen
die Armen

Pronounce the words.

This word has another meaning. What is it?

Die Kleinen und die Großen spielen zusammen.
The young need the old.
the first (ones)
the last (ones)
the new (ones)
the poor (ones)

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Word patterns

Grammatik

German 'cht' to English 'ght'

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T3.1 Week 1 Slides 25-26

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

All people have rights! And that is right!

Alle Menschen haben Rechte! Und das ist richtig!

Translate these sentences.

1. Der Mann beschreibt seine Flucht aus Syrien.

2. He needs a light in the night.

What would the following be in German?

power/might�visible / sight�daughter�Choose one and write a sentence in German.

Some German words have -cht, where English words have -ght.

Use the words you recognise to help you complete the tasks: �die Sicht, die Macht, die Tochter, die Nacht, das Licht, sichtbar

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ANTWORTEN

Der Mann beschreibt seine Flucht aus Syrien.
He needs a light in the night.
power/might
visible, sight
daughter

The man describes his flight/escape out of Syria.
Er braucht ein Licht in der Nacht.
die Macht
sichtbar, die Sicht
die Tochter

Don’t forget to pronounce the words!

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Remove -en from infinitive verb, add -e to create noun

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T3.1 Week 4 Slides 28-29

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German 🡨🡪 German�

These two nouns are the stem of their sibling (matching) verb.

1. the answer (f)
2. the attempt, try (m)

antworten

lieben

enden

versuchen

fragen

reden

folgen

Wie heißt das Verb auf Deutsch?

1. die Frage
2. die Rede
3. die Liebe
4. das Ende
5. die Folge

Timing: 5 minutes��Aim: to make connections between German noun and verb forms.�

Procedure: �1. Complete the tasks.�2. Use the answer slides to feed back and check answers.�

Note: Students either know the noun or the verb (or both), or there is a cognate element. Both nouns and verbs are highly-frequent, almost all within the top 1000 words.�The genders of the new nouns are given in brackets next to the English word.��Students need to activate the following prior knowledge to complete the task:�1] definite articles for (m) - der, (f) - die, and (nt) - das nouns�2] capital letters needed on all nouns�3] stem is the word for the meaning-carrying part of the verb, and (generally, and in all the examples in this task) is the full infinitive minus -en. ��Note: The five nouns in the 2^nd table are ‘stem + -e’. Teachers should draw attention to this additional pattern.

�Word frequency: �die Antwort 522

der Versuch 791

die Frage 157

die Folge 431

die Liebe 844

die Rede 759

das Ende 183

antworten 826

versuchen 247

fragen 153

folgen 160

lieben 701

reden 368

enden 1313

�Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2019). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

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ANTWORTEN�

These two nouns are the stem of their sibling (matching) verb.

1. the answer (f)
2. the attempt, try (m)

antworten

lieben

enden

versuchen

fragen

reden

folgen

Wie heißt das Verb auf Deutsch?

1. die Frage
2. die Rede
3. die Liebe
4. das Ende
5. die Folge

fragen

reden

lieben

enden

folgen

die Antwort

der Versuch

Don’t forget to pronounce the words!

How do these nouns relate to the stem of their sibling verb?

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Add suffix -weise (+er, +s) to create adverb

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T3.1 Week 6 Slides 28-29

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

That is possibly true!

Das ist möglicherweise wahr!

Translate these sentences.

1. Das ist nur teilweise korrekt.

2. Luckily (happily) he has no problems.

What would the following be in German?

sadly�normally/usually�logically�Choose one and write a sentence in German.

Some German adverbs have -(er)weise, �where English adverbs often have -ly.

die Weise means way, manner.

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ANTWORTEN

Das ist nur teilweise korrekt.
Luckily (happily) he has no problems.
sadly
normally, usually
logically

That is only partly/partially correct.
Glücklicherweise hat er keine Probleme.
traurigerweise
normalerweise
logischerweise

Don’t forget to pronounce the words!

Remember: Word Order 2 when you start your sentence with an adverb.

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Word family - Freund

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y8 T3.1 Week 3 Slides 8-9

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English 🡪 German 🡪 English�

All of these words are related to the word Freund.

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

A. nicht freundlich
B. Sie arbeitet für Greenpeace.
C. Ich liebe Museen.
D. Wir schreiben einander.
E. Wir sind nicht mehr zusammen.
F. Er mag Hunde und Katzen.
G. Ich liebe sie.
H. Alle meine Freunde.
I. Wir machen viele Partys zu Hause.

friendship	in a friendly way	school friend	friendliness	friend of dogs

tierfreundlich

kulturfreundlich

Naturfreundin

unfreundlich

Brieffreund

Freundschaft

Freundin

Exfreund

Freundeskreis

gastfreundlich

Freundlichkeit

freundlicherweise

Hundefreund

Schulfreund

Vokabeln

Timing: 5 minutes��Aim: to develop awareness of word families and to use existing knowledge of language and language patterns (e.g. pronouns (sie/er etc..) plus the –in suffix for feminine person nouns) to understand the word meanings.��Procedure:�1. Students write A – H, read the clues / definitions A – I and match word meanings to them. Each word is used only one.

2. Then students identify the correct German words for the five English definitions.

3. Use the following slide to correct the activity.�4. Finally, students pronounce the words.

Word frequency: Freund [273] - Freundin – freundlich [1567] – unfreundlich - Freundschaft [2981] – tierfreundlich [Tier - 614] – Freundenkreis [Kreis-1289] – Schulfreund [Schule - 359] – Freundlichkeit – befreundet (sein) – Brieffreund – Exfreund – familienfreundlich – gastfreundlich – Hundefreund – kulturfreundlich – Naturfreund – menschenfreundlich – Sportfreund -(sich) befreunden – freundlicherweise (kindly / in a friendly way)

Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2019). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

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ANTWORTEN�

All of these words are related to the word Freund.

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

A. nicht freundlich
B. Sie arbeitet für Greenpeace.
C. Ich liebe Museen.
D. Wir schreiben einander.
E. Wir sind nicht mehr zusammen.
F. Er mag Hunde und Katzen.
G. Ich liebe sie.
H. Alle meine Freunde.
I. Wir machen viele Partys zu Hause.

friendship	in a friendly way	school friend	friendliness	friend of dogs

tierfreundlich

kulturfreundlich

Naturfreundin

unfreundlich

Brieffreund

Freundschaft

Freundin

Exfreund

Freundeskreis

gastfreundlich

Freundlichkeit

freundlicherweise

Hundefreund

Schulfreund

unfreundlich

Naturfreundin

kulturfreundlich

Brieffreund

Exfreund

tierfreundlich

Freundin

Freundeskreis

gastfreundlich

die Freundschaft

freundlicherweise

der Schulfreund

die Freundlichkeit

der Hundefreund

Don’t forget to pronounce the words!

Vokabeln

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Word family - Arbeit

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Word patterns

Grammatik

Introduction

Y9 T1.1 Week 6 Slides 14-15

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Karaoke SSC

sprechen

Sag die Femininform für jedes Wort.

Forscher

Autor

Wissenschaftler

Komponist

Tourist

Theologe

König

Astronaut

Aktivist

Erfinder

1

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

[ r ] is formed at the back of the throat without using the lips

Drop the –e ending first!

[inventor]

das Gendersternchen �(Gender Star)

The * symbol is sometimes used as a more inclusive way of differentiating male/female role nouns, e.g. Lehrer*in not Lehrer/Lehrerin.

�It is placed between the m/f forms to symbolise all genders in between and it makes it possible not to specify gender, e.g. Alex ist Künstler*in.

Finde eine*n Partner*in.

Add – in to male person nouns to make female nouns.

Timing: 5 minutes

Aim: to consolidate the noun rule for the feminisation of masculine people nouns, and to revisit the pronunciation of several SSC but particularly [r] within words, where pronunciation is very different from English, formed at the back of the throat without using the lips at all.��Note that three nouns are from this week’s vocabulary set, one was taught in Week 1 (König), five others are cognates and Erfinder appeared in lesson 1, though teachers may want to ensure that the meaning is remembered. Students may not have heard of theologian in English, so teachers may need to explain the meaning.�

Procedure:

Click to highlight a word.
Students say the feminine form of the noun out loud, focusing on accurate pronunciation of all the SSC.
Click on the number button next to the word to check pronunciation.

Transcript and word frequency (1 is the most frequent word in German):

1. Forscherin

2. Autorin

3. Wissenschaftlerin

4. Komponistin

5. Touristin

6. Aktivistin

7. Erfinderin

8. Astronautin

9. Königin

10. Theologin��Word frequency of unknown or cognate words (1 is the most frequent word in German): �Autor [723] Komponist [>5009] Aktivist [>5009] Erfinder [>5009] Astronaut [>5009] Theologe [>5009]�Source: Jones, R.L. & Tschirner, E. (2006). A frequency dictionary of German: core vocabulary for learners. Routledge

�

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Plural

Grammatik

Remember: the word for ‘the’ is ‘die’ for all plural nouns.

Rule 6

We know five ways to form plurals in German. Here is rule 6:

Add –nen to all feminine person nouns ending in –in.

die Touristin 🡪

die Touristinnen

die Wissenschaftlerin 🡪

die Wissenschaftlerinnen

die Wissenschaftler/Wissenschafterinnen

die Touristen

You can also refer to any plural groups with the Gendersternchen, �e.g. Wissenschaftler*innen

Masculine person nouns ending in –t or –e often end –en in plural.