German grammar by topic › German separable verbs, explained

German separable verbs, explained

Many German verbs have a prefix that splits off in a main clause and goes to the end: anrufen, Ich rufe dich morgen an. Aufstehen, Wann stehst du auf?

Other prefixes never split and are never stressed: be-, ver-, er-, ent-, ge-, zer-, emp- and miss-. Verstehen stays together: Ich verstehe das nicht.

The essentials

In a main clause the prefix goes to the end: Der Zug fährt um acht ab.
In a subordinate clause the verb comes back together at the end: …, weil der Zug um acht abfährt.
In the Perfekt, ge- goes between prefix and stem: angerufen, aufgestanden, eingekauft.
With zu, zu goes between them as well: Ich habe keine Zeit einzukaufen.
Separable prefixes are stressed (ANrufen); inseparable ones aren't (verSTEHen), and their participles have no ge-: verstanden, bekommen.

Every lesson on this topic

Each lesson has a full explanation, examples you can listen to, and exercises with answers.

A1 (the A1 course)

Separable verbs: anrufen, aufstehen: Ich rufe dich an: the prefix of a separable verb goes to the end.

B1 (the B1 course)

Prefixes that separate or not: übersetzen, umfahren, wiederholen: Tell separable from inseparable verbs, and use the stress to tell the double ones apart.

B2 (the B2 course)

Prefixes that change meaning: ver-, zer-, ent-, er-, miss-, un-: Guess and build new words with the prefixes ver-, zer-, ent-, er-, miss- and un-, and form their participles correctly.

In the app, these lessons are taught one idea at a time with audio, practised with questions that explain the rule when you slip, and brought back for review on later days.

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