Translation and composition
What the section tests
Translation and composition checks whether you can carry meaning across languages without word-for-word copying, and whether you can build a short guided text. Translation items are usually short sentences German → English/Punjabi and English/Punjabi → German, built from familiar textbook structures.
Core rules
- Translate the sentence, not the words: German „Man soll“ becomes English „one should“ or „you should“, not „man should“.
- Keep tense, negation, number and register. If the German is Perfekt, the English should show a completed past action.
- Handle German frame constructions: subordinate clause first with the verb last; separable prefix at the end; modal verb with the infinitive at the end.
- In composition, plan three parts - introduction, two or three body points, conclusion - and link with zuerst, außerdem, deshalb and zum Schluss.
- Re-read the target text once for sense, not just for word equivalence.
Worked example
Translate: „Obwohl es regnete, gingen wir spazieren.“ Reasoning: obwohl = although; regnete is the Präteritum of regnen; gingen is the Präteritum of gehen, and the main-clause verb comes immediately after the subordinate clause. Answer: „Although it was raining, we went for a walk.“ Do not write „Although it rains“ - that changes the tense.
Traps that cost marks
- Literal idiom translation („Ich habe Hunger“ → „I have hunger“ instead of „I am hungry“).
- Dropping the verb-final rule and producing „…, weil ich bin krank“.
- Losing nicht or kein in translation.
- Changing singular/plural or formal/informal address.
- Writing a composition with no paragraphing or linking words.