Religious Celebrations: Grammar & Phonics (AQA GCSE German): Revision Note
Exam code: 8662
To talk about what happens generally (e.g. during religious celebrations) rather than what specific people do, man is a very useful pronoun
Let's look at this grammar point in more detail
Use of man
Use man to talk about what people do in general - it is the equivalent of 'you', 'one', 'they' or 'people' in English
It always takes the third person singular verb form (the same as er / sie / es)
German | English |
|---|---|
Man feiert Weihnachten mit der Familie. | People celebrate Christmas with their family. |
Man geht zu Eid zur Moschee. | You go to the mosque for Eid. |
Man tauscht Geschenke aus. | People exchange gifts. |
Man can also be used with modal verbs:
German | English |
|---|---|
Man kann zur Kirche gehen. | You can go to church. |
Man muss neue Kleider tragen. | People have to wear new clothes. |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
When you see man in a reading or listening text, don't confuse it with Mann (man / husband)
Man is always lower case and always takes a singular verb
In the exam, there is often more than one correct way to translate it into English - 'you', 'they', 'people' and 'one' can all be acceptable, so think about which sounds most natural
Religious celebrations: phonics
Some words in this unit look very similar to English, but are pronounced differently in German
Watch out for these in particular:
'eu' and 'äu' are always pronounced 'oy' like in the English word 'boy':
Examiner Tips and Tricks
In the speaking exam, mispronouncing a cognate by giving it an English pronunciation can affect your mark
Practise these words aloud, paying attention to where the stress falls
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