Sport: Grammar & Phonics (AQA GCSE German): Revision Note
Exam code: 8662
To talk about sport in more detail, you need to be able to say how often you do something and who you do it with
Let's look at these grammar points in more detail
Adverbs of frequency
Adverbs of frequency tell you how often something happens
In German, these adverbs usually come directly after the verb
Here are the most useful ones, from most to least frequent:
German | English |
|---|---|
immer | always |
oft | often |
manchmal | sometimes |
selten | rarely |
nie | never |
You can also use time expressions to say exactly when or how often you do sport:
German | English |
|---|---|
am Montag / am Wochenende | on Monday / at the weekend |
jeden Tag | every day |
jeden Dienstag | every Tuesday |
einmal pro Woche | once a week |
zweimal pro Monat | twice a month |
In German, the verb must always be the second idea in the sentence
If you start with a time expression, the verb and subject swap around - this is called inversion
For example:
Ich spiele am Samstag Fußball. I play football on Saturday.
Am Samstag spiele ich Fußball. On Saturday, I play football.
Notice that when Am Samstag comes first, spiele still comes second - directly before ich
Mit + dative
To say who you do sport with, use mit (with) followed by the dative case
Mit always takes the dative, which changes the ending of the possessive adjective
Here are the dative forms of mein (my), sein (his) and ihr (her) that are most useful for talking about sport:
masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
my | meinem | meiner | meinem | meinen |
his | seinem | seiner | seinem | seinen |
her | ihrem | ihrer | ihrem | ihren |
Here are some examples using mit + dative, as well as adverbs of frequency:
German | English |
|---|---|
Ich spiele oft Tennis mit meinem Bruder. | I often play tennis with my brother. |
Sie spielt jeden Samstag Fußball mit ihrer Schwester. | She plays football with her sister every Saturday. |
Er geht manchmal mit seinem Freund schwimmen. | He sometimes goes swimming with his friend. |
Ich trainiere zweimal pro Woche mit meinen Freunden. | I train twice a week with my friends. |
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Using mit + dative correctly is a great way to add detail and accuracy to your speaking and writing
Try to include at least one example when describing your sporting activities, for example saying not just Ich spiele Fußball but Ich spiele mit meinem Bruder Fußball
The TMP rule
In German, adverbs and phrases in a sentence follow a fixed order: Time → Manner → Place (TMP)
This means you say when, then how or with whom, then where
Time | Manner | Place |
|---|---|---|
jeden Samstag | mit meiner Schwester | im Park |
manchmal | mit meinem Freund | im Sportzentrum |
So the full sentence would be:
Ich spiele jeden Samstag mit meiner Schwester im Park Tennis. I play tennis with my sister in the park every Saturday.
Er geht manchmal mit seinem Freund in die Stadt schwimmen. He sometimes goes swimming with his friend in the city.
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Using all three elements - time, manner and place - in a single sentence is one of the most effective ways to show grammatical range in your speaking and writing
Try building at least one TMP sentence when talking about sport
Sport: phonics
sp at the start of a word are pronounced shp, not like the English sp in 'sport'
This shp sound only applies when sp appears at the start of a word
If it's in the middle, it often has a different pronunciation, like in the following words:
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