Festivals & Traditions: Grammar & Phonics (AQA GCSE German): Revision Note
Exam code: 8662
When talking about festivals and traditions, it is useful to know how to say when events take place
Knowing how to form dates accurately will help you in all four skills
For Higher tier, the genitive case allows you to add more sophisticated detail about festivals and their origins
Let's look at these grammar points in more detail
Dates
In German, use the following structures to say when something happens:
Use am + ordinal number + month to say a specific date, e.g. am dritten Januar
Use im + month to say 'in' a month, e.g. im Dezember
Use am + day to say 'on' a day, e.g. am Montag
Ordinal numbers are formed by adding -ten (4–19) or -sten (20+) to the number
The first three ordinals are irregular: erst-, zweit-, dritt-
In the dative after am, ordinal numbers take the ending -en: am ersten, am dritten, am zwanzigsten
Number | Ordinal (stem) | With am (dative) |
|---|---|---|
1 | erst- | am ersten |
2 | zweit- | am zweiten |
3 | dritt- | am dritten |
4 | viert- | am vierten |
5 | fünft- | am fünften |
10 | zehnt- | am zehnten |
20 | zwanzigst- | am zwanzigsten |
31 | einunddreißigst- | am einunddreißigsten |
Example sentences:
Karneval findet im Februar statt. Carnival takes place in February.
Am dritten Oktober feiern wir den Tag der deutschen Einheit. On the third of October we celebrate German Unity Day.
Meine Hochzeit ist am zwanzigsten Juni. My wedding is on the twentieth of June.
The genitive case
Higher tier only
The genitive case is used to show possession or association
In English this is often expressed with 'of' or an apostrophe-s ('s)
The genitive is formed by adding -s or -es to masculine and neuter nouns
Feminine nouns and plurals do not change
The article changes to des (m/nt), der (f/pl)
Gender | Nominative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|
Masculine | der König | des Königs |
Neuter | das Fest | des Festes |
Feminine | die Tradition | der Tradition |
Plural | die Feste | der Feste |
Das ist die Tradition des Landes. That is the tradition of the country.
Der König des Karnevals trägt ein buntes Kostüm. The king of the Carnival wears a colourful costume.
Die Musik der Feier war wunderbar. The music of the celebration was wonderful.
Das ist das Fest der Familie. That is the family's festival.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
The genitive case is one of the most impressive structures you can use in your written and spoken German
Many students avoid it and use von + dative instead, for example die Tradition von der Familie, but if you can use the genitive confidently (die Tradition der Familie), examiners will notice
Learn the four article forms (des, des, der, der) and you are already halfway there
Festivals & traditions: phonics
The letter z in German is always pronounced like 'ts' in 'cats', never like 'z' in 'zero'
This applies wherever z appears in a word
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