NCEA Level 3 German flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Listening: gist vs detail

Two-pass listening: the first pass identifies topic, speakers and attitude; the second pass extracts numbers, reasons and contrasts. Detail questions are answered only after global meaning is established, so distractors do not override the main point.

Negation cues in German audio

Words such as nicht, kaum, keineswegs, eigentlich nicht and eher nicht reverse or weaken a statement. A sentence can sound positive in content words while the particle or negation makes the overall meaning negative, so track these markers.

Modal particles and attitude

Particles like doch, ja, mal, halt, eben and wohl carry speaker attitude, not content. Wohl means probably, doch signals contradiction or emphasis, ja implies shared knowledge, and mal softens a request.

Clock times in German

German clock time counts toward the next hour: halb drei is 2:30, Viertel vor acht is 7:45, Viertel nach neun is 9:15. Official timetables use the 24-hour form, e.g. 17:45 = siebzehn Uhr fünfundvierzig.

Signpost words in listening

Discourse markers reveal text structure: erstens and zunächst open points, außerdem adds, allerdings and dagegen contrast, schließlich closes a series, and zusammenfassend introduces a summary. They help predict what the next sentence will do.

Register recognition: du vs Sie

Du-form signals informal contexts such as friends, family and peers; Sie-form signals formal or unfamiliar relationships. Listening for the pronoun tells you the relationship between speakers and often the setting of the task.

Inference in listening tasks

Inference answers must be supported by a stated reason in the audio, not by general world knowledge. Reject options that add qualifiers such as immer, nur or alle when the speaker used softer wording like meistens or manchmal.

Numbers and prices as distractors

Speakers often correct themselves: an initial price, time or percentage is revised later in the text. The final stated figure is normally the answer, and units such as Euro, Prozent and Uhr must match the question.

Speaking: repair phrases

Useful repair moves keep an interaction going: Wie bitte? Könnten Sie das wiederholen? Was meinen Sie genau? Wie sagt man das auf Deutsch? These show control rather than failure and buy time to reformulate.

German word stress rules

Native simplex words are usually stressed on the first syllable (ÁRbeit, LÉben). Separable prefixes are stressed (ÁNfangen, AUFstehen), inseparable prefixes are unstressed (verSTÉHen, beKÓMmen), and -ieren verbs stress the final -ie- (studÍEren).

ich-Laut vs ach-Laut

After front vowels and consonants, ch is the soft ich-Laut [ç]: ich, Milch, Mädchen, richtig. After back vowels it is the ach-Laut [x]: Buch, Nacht, doch. Mixing them is a noticeable pronunciation error.

Final devoicing in German

Written b, d and g are pronounced voiceless at the end of a syllable: lieb sounds like [liːp], Tag like [taːk], Hund like [hʊnt]. The spelling stays voiced, but the sound changes, especially before a pause.

Umlaut minimal pairs

Umlauts are separate phonemes, not decoration: schon versus schön, Mutter versus Mütter, Bruder versus Brüder, fuhr versus für. Mispronouncing them can change meaning and is penalised in speaking assessment.

Perfekt for spoken narration

Spoken past narration uses Perfekt: haben or sein plus Partizip II (Ich habe gelernt; Ich bin gefahren). Sein is used with verbs of movement and change of state, and with sein, bleiben and werden.

Opinion phrases for discussion

Structured opinion markers raise the register: Meiner Meinung nach …, Ich bin der Ansicht, dass …, Einerseits … andererseits …, Das stimmt zwar, aber …. Follow each with a reason, otherwise the statement stays at a lower level.

Formal request with Konjunktiv II

Polite requests use Konjunktiv II with verb second: Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen? Würden Sie das wiederholen? In Sie-form the pronoun stays Sie, and the infinitive goes to the end of the sentence.

Interactive question forms

Sustained interaction needs questions, not only answers: Was hältst du davon? Wie siehst du das? Könntest du das näher erklären? Question tags such as oder? and nicht wahr? invite the partner to respond.

Reading: two-way prepositions

Prepositions such as in, an, auf, über and unter take accusative for movement or direction and dative for position. Compare Ich gehe in die Stadt (accusative) with Ich bin in der Stadt (dative).

Dative preposition list

These prepositions always take the dative: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, gegenüber. A fixed list like this is faster to apply in reading than re-analysing each sentence for case.

Accusative preposition list

These prepositions always take the accusative: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um, entlang, bis. Recognising them lets you assign the case of an article quickly and identify the object of the sentence.

Genitive in formal written German

Formal texts use genitive after wegen, trotz, während, statt and as a possessive: wegen des Wetters, trotz der Kosten, während der Ferien, die Lösung des Problems. The genitive article forms are des/dem-like and der for feminine.

Relative pronoun case rule

The relative pronoun takes gender and number from the antecedent but case from its function in the relative clause: der Mann, den ich sehe (accusative); die Frau, der ich helfe (dative); das Buch, dessen Autor … (genitive).

Konjunktiv II in written texts

Konjunktiv II marks hypothesis, politeness or unreality: wäre, hätte, würde, könnte, müsste. Forms with würde plus infinitive are common; strong forms like wäre and hätte are preferred over würde sein and würde haben.

Konjunktiv I for reported speech

Journalistic German reports speech with Konjunktiv I: Er sagte, er sei krank; Sie erklärte, sie habe nichts gewusst. The form signals that the writer is reporting a claim without endorsing it.

Passive voice in news texts

The passive is werden plus Partizip II: Das Haus wird gebaut; Die Regel wurde geändert. The agent appears with von for people and durch for means, and the passive often hides who is responsible.

Logical connectors in reading

Connectors encode the relation between clauses: weil and da give cause, obwohl gives concession, damit gives purpose, sodass gives result, indem gives means, and sofern gives condition. The relation determines the answer in inference items.

Text type predicts register

Identify the text type first: a report is impersonal and passive-heavy, an interview contains questions and direct speech, an advertisement uses imperatives and superlatives, and a literary extract uses Präteritum and imagery.

Formal letter frame

Formal letters open with Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren or Sehr geehrte Frau X and close with Mit freundlichen Grüßen plus name. Informal letters use Liebe/Lieber plus first name and close with Liebe Grüße or Bis bald.

Argumentative text structure

A discursive text has an introduction stating the topic and thesis, a body with two or three arguments each supported by an example, a counterargument with a response, and a conclusion that adds no new arguments.

Word order in subordinate clauses

In subordinate clauses introduced by weil, dass, obwohl, wenn or damit, the conjugated verb moves to the final position: Ich bleibe zu Hause, weil ich krank bin. In main clauses the verb stays second.

Time expressions: accusative vs dative

Time expressions without a preposition take the accusative: letztes Jahr, nächste Woche, jeden Tag. With in, vor or nach they take the dative: in der letzten Woche, vor einem Jahr, nach dem Unterricht.

seit vs vor in time phrases

Seit plus dative means since or for an ongoing period: Ich lerne seit drei Jahren Deutsch. Vor plus dative means ago and points to a finished point: Vor drei Jahren habe ich angefangen.