Hallo! Welcome back.
In the last lesson, we focused on the fundamental building blocks of German questions: the question words Wie (how/what), Wo (where), and Woher (where from). Understanding these individual words was the first step.
Now, we'll put those blocks together to build complete, meaningful questions. Today's lesson is designed to help you understand simple spoken questions that ask for personal information. By the end of this session, you will be able to hear questions like Wie heißt du? and know exactly what is being asked. This moves us closer to our goal of designing a beginners' activity by completing the comprehension phase of our learning plan.
From Words to Questions
Let's start with the two questions you might see most frequently when meeting someone new. Both are featured in a catchy song format, which is an excellent teaching tool for young learners as it aids memory through repetition.
'Talking About Myself' in German with Mwaksy Mudenda
The BBC Super Movers resource 'Talking About Myself' in German uses a song to introduce basic questions and answers. We'll look at the transcript.
Please read the first part of the transcript, from the beginning down to the line '♫ Woher kommst du? ♫'. Notice how the questions 'Wie heißt du?' and 'Woher kommst du?' are introduced and then repeated in the song.
Let's break down what you just read.
1. Asking for a Name: Wie heißt du?
You saw the question Wie heißt du? which means "What is your name?".
Wie- As we learned, this means "how," but in this phrase it functions like "what."heißt- This is a form of the verbheißen, meaning "to be called."du- This is the informal "you."
So, literally, you're asking, "How are you called?". This is the standard way to ask someone their name in an informal context, perfect for your 11-year-old students.
2. Asking about Origin: Woher kommst du?
The transcript also introduced Woher kommst du?, which means "Where do you come from?".
Woher- You'll remember this specifically means "where from."kommst- This is a form of the verbkommen, meaning "to come."du- Again, this is "you."
This question perfectly illustrates the distinction we discussed previously: Woher is used to ask about origin. The corresponding answer uses the same verb: Ich komme aus....
The worksheet below provides a great visual summary for this question and the next one we'll cover. Notice how it separates "How I ask" (So frage ich) from "How I answer" (So antworte ich).
Location and Age
Now let's learn the questions for asking about where someone lives and their age. A fantastic resource for this is a lesson plan from the Goethe-Institut, which is full of activity ideas for children.
The resource 'DEUTSCH MIT FELIX UND FRANZI' from the Goethe-Institut provides detailed lesson plans for teaching German to children. We'll look at a few sections that introduce our target questions.
Please read two specific parts of this document: Lesson 10.3: The best house (pages 69-70): Read the 'Let’s do it!' section. Focus on how the question 'Wo wohnst du?' is introduced. Lesson 10.2: How old are you? (pages 68-69): Read from the 'Let's begin!' section to the end of the 'Let's do it!' section. Focus on the introduction of the question 'Wie alt bist du?'.
This material gives us our final two questions.
3. Asking about Residence: Wo wohnst du?
As you saw in "Lesson 10.3" of the PDF, the question to ask where someone lives is Wo wohnst du?.
Wo- This is our question word for a static location, "where."wohnst- This is from the verbwohnen, meaning "to live" or "to reside."du- "you."
This question, Wo wohnst du?, pairs with the answer Ich wohne in..., neatly reinforcing the Wo / wohnen connection.
4. Asking for Age: Wie alt bist du?
Finally, "Lesson 10.2" showed us how to ask for age: Wie alt bist du?. This one is a direct, word-for-word translation of the English "How old are you?".
Wie- Howalt- oldbist- are (from the verbsein, to be)du- you
The worksheet below provides a simple and clear visual for this question.
Teacher's Corner
As you design your activity, these questions are your core content. Here are some pedagogical ideas based on today's lesson:
- Reinforce with Chants: The repetition in the BBC Super Movers song is very effective. You can create simple chants for the other questions to help with memorization:
- "Wo wohnst du? Wo wohnst du? Ich wohne in Berlin!"
- "Wie alt bist du? Wie alt bist du? Ich bin elf Jahre alt!"
- Anchor Verb-Question Pairs: Encourage students to memorize the question word and verb as a unit. This is especially helpful for distinguishing
WoandWoher.- Wo goes with wohnen (
Wo wohnst du?) - Woher goes with kommen (
Woher kommst du?)
- Wo goes with wohnen (
- Use Contextual Activities: The "Felix and Franzi" resource (LINK) is a treasure trove of ideas. The detective game described in Lesson 10.1, where students have to go around the room asking
Wie heißt du?to find a specific person, is a perfect example of communicative practice that is both fun and effective for 11-year-olds.
Conclusion
Sehr gut! You can now recognize the four essential questions for a basic German self-introduction.
Here are our key takeaways:
- To ask for a name:
Wie heißt du?(What is your name?) - To ask for an origin:
Woher kommst du?(Where do you come from?) - To ask for a residence:
Wo wohnst du?(Where do you live?) - To ask for age:
Wie alt bist du?(How old are you?)
You've now learned to understand both the statements and the questions used in a simple introduction. In our next and final lesson of this module, we will put it all together and practice matching these spoken questions to their corresponding spoken answers in a listening activity. This will solidify your comprehension skills before we move on to producing the language ourselves.
Bis zum nächsten Mal! (Until next time!)