Verbs with separable and inseparable preﬁxes

Different types of preﬁxes

Many verbs in German consist of a main verb and a preﬁx: ankommen ‘to arrive’, verkaufen ‘to sell’, übersetzen ‘to translate’/‘to ferry over’.

There are three different types of preﬁxes in German:

• separable preﬁxes which – as the name suggests – can exist separately from the main verb;

• inseparable preﬁxes which are ﬁxed to the verb;

• variable preﬁxes which can either be separable or inseparable.

Separable verbs

List of commonly used separable preﬁxes

Separable verbs are used frequently in German. Here is a list of common preﬁxes together with one possible combination as an example:

ab- abfahren to depart (by vehicle)
an- anrufen to telephone
auf- aufmachen to open
aus- ausgehen to go out
bei- beitreten to join (an organisation)
ein- einkaufen to shop
fest- festnehmen to take into custody
her- herkommen to come (from somewhere)
hin- hinsetzen to sit down
mit- mitmachen to join in
statt-stattﬁnden to take place
vor- vorbereiten to prepare
weg-wegbringen to take away
zu- zulegen to put on
zurück- zurückgeben to return (something)
zusammen- zusammenzählen to add up

Here are some of them in use:

Sie gehen heute Abend aus. They are going out tonight

Die Wahlen fanden letzten September statt. The election took place last September.

Separable verbs do not always split up

Separable verbs can – as the name indicates – split into two parts. However, they also appear as one word in certain constructions.

When to separate

A separable verb splits when it is the only verb in a main clause. This applies to the following structures. Note that the preﬁx appears in the ﬁnal position:

present tense Er ruft seine Freundin um 8 Uhr an. He calls his girlfriend at 8 o’clock.

simple past tense Ich kam am Dienstag zurück. I returned on Tuesday.

imperative Steh sofort auf ! Get/Stand up at once!

When not to separate

Separable verbs appear as one word and in the inﬁnitive with modal verbs and the future tense:

Er muss seine Freundin anrufen. He has to call his girlfriend.

Ich werde am Dienstag zurückkommen. I’ll return on Tuesday.

In most subordinate clauses, the separable verb moves to the last position and does not split up. Its ending must agree with the subject of the clause:

Sag mir, wann du ankommst.

Tell me when you’ll arrive.

Ich verstehe nicht, warum er sich immer so aufregt.

I don’t understand why he always gets so upset.

Past participles

The past participle of separable verbs is normally formed by inserting -ge- between the preﬁx and the main verb: ankommen ® angekommen.

Verbs with inseparable preﬁxes

List of commonly used inseparable preﬁxes
There are also a number of preﬁxes which never detach themselves from the main verb. They include:

be-	besuchen	to visit
emp-	empﬁnden	to feel
ent-	entleeren	to empty
er-	erzählen	to tell (a story)
ge-	gehören	to belong
miss-	missachten	to disregard
ver-	verlieren	to lose
zer-	zerstören	to destroy

Here are some of them in use:

Sie besuchen ihre Eltern fast jedes Wochenende.

They visit their parents almost every weekend.

Erzähl uns noch eine Geschichte!

Tell us another story!

Dieses Buch gehört Martin.

This book belongs to Martin.

Past participles

Verbs with inseparable preﬁxes don’t add ge- when forming their past participle:

Sie hat das nicht bereut. She hasn’t regretted it.

Paul hat gestern seinen Pass verloren. Paul lost his passport yesterday.

Verbs with variable preﬁxes

There are also some preﬁxes which can either be separable or insepar- able. They include:

durch-	durchlassen (sep.) durchdenken (insep.)	to let through to think through
über-	überkochen (sep.) übernachten (insep.)	to boil over to stay overnight
um-	umfallen (sep.) umarmen (insep.)	to fall over to embrace
unter-	untergehen (sep.) unterrichten (insep.)	to sink to teach
wieder-	wiedersehen (sep.) wiederholen (insep.)	to see again to repeat
wider-	widerspiegeln (sep.) widersprechen (insep.)	to reﬂect to contradict

How to spot the difference

A way of identifying a separable or inseparable preﬁx is to see where the stress falls:
• if the verb is separable, the stress usually falls on the preﬁx: durch-
fallen, überkochen, umfallen, untergehen, wiedersehen, widerspiegeln;
• if the verb is inseparable, the stress falls on the main verb: durchdenken, übernachten, umarmen, unterrichten, wiederholen, widersprechen.

Same word, different meanings

A few verbs exist as a separable as well as an inseparable verb. Although the preﬁx is the same, their meaning and stress differ:

Separable Inseparable
übersetzen   to ferry across übersetzen   to translate
überziehen   to put/pull on überziehen to overdraw (account)
umschreiben   to rewrite umschreiben  to paraphrase

The above separable forms often convey the literal meaning of the verb, while the inseparable forms usually have a more ﬁgurative meaning:

Das Boot setzt über. The boat ferries across.
Marco übersetzt einen Text. Marco is translating a text.
Sie hat ihre Jacke übergezogen. She has put on her jacket.
Sie hat ihr Konto überzogen. She has overdrawn her account.

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