B2: Upper intermediate

The 16 units

• Unit 1

  Er sagte, er sei ...He said he was ...

  You can report what other people said neutrally, the way German news does; form Konjunktiv I and know when to switch to Konjunktiv II or würde; report questions, requests and past statements.

• Unit 2

  Es muss gemacht werdenIt must be done

  You can say what has been done and what had been done, using the passive; explain rules and obligations with modal verbs in the passive; understand workplace safety rules and regulations.

• Unit 3

  Das ist zu erledigenThat is to be done

  You can tell a process (wird geöffnet) apart from a state (ist geöffnet); express necessity and possibility with sein + zu and sich lassen; use -bar and -lich adjectives to say what can be done.

• Unit 4

  Die von uns geplante ReiseThe trip we planned

  You can understand long noun phrases with participles in formal texts; turn extended participial attributes into relative clauses and back; read and discuss texts about sustainable travel and the environment.

• Unit 5

  Nominal oder verbal?Nominal or verbal style?

  You can recognise nominal style in news, business and academic texts; turn subordinate clauses into prepositional phrases and back; choose the right register for speaking and for writing.

• Unit 6

  Eine Entscheidung treffenMaking a decision

  You can use common noun-verb collocations (Nomen-Verb-Verbindungen) correctly; negotiate and make decisions in a business meeting; structure a short presentation with formal phrases.

• Unit 7

  Er soll reich seinHe's said to be rich

  You can say how certain you are about a guess, from almost sure to impossible; pass on rumours and second-hand information with sollen; report doubtful claims people make about themselves with wollen.

• Unit 8

  Bis dahin wird er es geschafft habenBy then he'll have done it

  You can say what will have happened by a certain point in the future; make assumptions about the present with werden and wohl; make assumptions about the past with Futur II.

• Unit 9

  Das hätte ich tun sollenI should have done that

  You can express regret about decisions and missed chances; criticise past actions politely but clearly; use modal verbs in the Perfekt and in the past subjunctive with the double infinitive.

• Unit 10

  Als ob ...As if ...

  You can compare reality with unreal or imagined situations; describe how people look, sound and behave; use als ob, als wenn and als with verb second correctly.

• Unit 11

  Aufgrund der LageDue to the situation

  You can write formal reports and letters with precise, official prepositions; use genitive prepositions such as aufgrund, angesichts, infolge and ungeachtet; use dative prepositions such as gemäß, zufolge, dank and entgegen.

• Unit 12

  Indem man ...By doing ...

  You can explain how something is achieved with indem and dadurch, dass; restrict a statement with insofern als, soweit and soviel; contrast ideas with während and wohingegen.

• Unit 13

  Es lohnt sich, darauf zu achtenIt's worth paying attention to that

  You can connect main clauses with dass-clauses and zu-infinitives using correlates; know when es is obligatory, optional or impossible; use da(r)-compounds before dass-clauses and zu-infinitives.

• Unit 14

  Froh, es geschafft zu habenGlad to have done it

  You can use the perfect infinitive to show that something happened earlier; use the passive infinitive to express things that are done to someone; choose correctly between a zu-infinitive and a dass-clause.

• Unit 15

  Wörter bauenBuilding words

  You can recognise and form nouns with -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -nis and -tum; form adjectives with -bar, -los, -reich, -voll, -haft and un-; use verbs with variable prefixes (durch-, über-, um-, unter-, wieder-) correctly.

• Unit 16

  Auf den Punkt gebrachtTo the point

  You can choose what goes first in a sentence to link ideas and create emphasis; move comparisons and long elements to the end of the sentence (Ausklammerung); refer back clearly with demonstrative pronouns, dies- and ersterer / letzterer.

Exam practice

• Goethe-style B2 mock exam: Hören, Lesen, Schreiben, Sprechen
• Goethe-style B2 mock exam 2: Lesen, Hören, Schreiben, Sprechen
• Goethe-style B2 mock exam 3: Lesen, Hören, Schreiben, Sprechen

Exam practice follows the style of the Goethe-Zertifikat exams. Masar Deutsch is not affiliated with, approved by or endorsed by the Goethe-Institut, and its mock exams are not official papers.

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