Hallo!

Zum Aufwärmen machen wir unseren Tagesminiplausch und eine Wiederholung.

Wiederholung

In the previous lesson, you learned characteristics that describe how a person is, specifically words that are cognates (similar to English). You also learned how you can add the prefix -un to make some adjectives the opposite. Let’s review what you have learned.

Lektionsüberblick

In this lesson, we will build on our work with characteristics (Eigenschaften) by introducing words that can indicate opposites. The ability to use a word like nicht (not) to make something it’s opposite can basically double your vocabulary. In the end, you will be able to 1) learn opposites of characteristics through the negation “nicht” and 2) name contrasting characteristics that describe yourself.

1) Character opposites with “nicht”

In the previous lesson, you learned that many adjectives can be negated by adding -un in front of them (e.g. pünktlich vs. unpünktlich). This happens in English too, right? (e.g. happy vs. unhappy). Similarly, English negates adjectives by placing the word “not” in front of them. Complete the activity below to see how German is similar.

Now let’s try it out.

2) Talking about contrasting characteristics

Read below an excerpt in English of Frau Holle, one of the fairy tales adapted by the famous Brothers Grimm. In the excerpt, look for examples of adjectives that describe the characters in the story.

What adjectives did you read? Now let’s read a little bit in German.

Now let’s see how we can use little words like and and but to build sentences and to add contrast. Be sure to click through to each question in the question set.

Interested in the rest of the tale? Check out the full story.

*As you conclude this lesson, don’t forget to check Canvas!*

Media Attributions

• Frau Holle in English adapted from Literawiki, considered to be released under the CC-BY-SA International License.