Look around the room. Name three things you can see and say their colours in English.
Today we put those same colour words into short German descriptions. We will also watch what happens to the ending when the colour sits in front of a noun, the way you might see colours named on a German pencil case or a Schultüte (the big cone of stationery German children get when they start school).
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Name eight colours in German
- Describe a familiar thing with a colour word in the right form
- Spot when a German colour ending changes before a noun
First pass: listen to the German colour on each card, then say it together with the class.
Second pass: English shows first; try the German before the card flips, then listen to check.
Partway through, you will stop and try two short phrases aloud together, and you will hear how the colour sounds different when it comes in front of the thing it describes.
Flip two cards at a time and find each German colour with its English meaning. When a card turns, say the German quietly with the class and listen for the audio.
Open your copy. The models and word banks below stay on the board while you write. Write two short descriptions by copying the pattern and changing the colour and the thing.
Stay on the board while you write:
- der rote Ball (dair ROH-tuh bal)
- das grüne Buch (das GRUE-nuh bookh)
Colour bank: rot/rote · blau/blaue · grün/grüne · gelb/gelbe
Noun bank: der Ball · das Buch · der Stift · die Tür · das Heft
Copy the pattern: article + colour-with--e + noun. If you get stuck on a noun, write the English in brackets. Take the umlaut on grün from the bank on the board — you do not need to invent the spelling from memory.
🔎 Colour detective
Board round: one of you comes up and drags each colour label into place while everyone else says the German together and listens for the audio. Between labels, point at something near you in that same colour and whisper the German. At your table, you can agree the next answer before the volunteer goes up.
Room round: your teacher points at real classroom things (or holds up kit like a pencil case or folder). As a class, say a short German phrase with the colour before the noun, copying the models on the board.
Models to copy:
- der rote Ball (the red ball)
- das grüne Buch (the green book)
Bonus: if you spot black, red and gold together, you have the colours of the German flag.
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