{"id":94580,"date":"2024-05-14T11:39:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T15:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/german-separable-verbs\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T23:53:14","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T04:53:14","slug":"german-separable-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/german\/german-separable-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Guide to German Separable Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many wonderful and complex things about the German language, but separable verbs often cause lots of problems for German learners<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, we’ll learn all about separable verbs, including how to use them, when to separate them and when not<\/em> to separate them.\u00a0 I’ve broken those details down into straightforward steps and minimized the information you need to memorize.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What Are German Separable Verbs?<\/h2>\n

In German, some verbs separate into two parts when used in the present tense.<\/strong> While that might sound weird\u2014to take a word and break it apart even for normal use\u2014we do the same thing in English. In English, they\u2019re called “phrasal verbs.”<\/p>\n

For example, consider what you do with a library book: do you check it? No. You check<\/em> it out<\/em>. You can also\u00a0check for<\/em> the library book while you\u2019re browsing through the aisles (you know, to make sure it\u2019s there). And when you bring<\/em> it back<\/em>, you make sure it gets checked<\/em> back in<\/em>\u2014once the librarian has checked<\/em> it over<\/em> to make sure you haven’t written<\/em> all over<\/em> it in crayon or spilled<\/em> beer onto<\/em> the cover.<\/p>\n

Just by adding one preposition (a word that shows the relationship between two things, such as in<\/em>, on<\/em>, at<\/em>, over<\/em>, under<\/em>, etc.), we can change the meaning of the verb.<\/p>\n

In German, plenty of verbs are made of a prefix (often a preposition) and a core verb.<\/strong> When a prefix is added to a core verb, the meaning changes.<\/p>\n

The same is true in English\u2014we can change the meanings of some verbs in English by adding a preposition, but in English we add it after the verb, and it’s a separate word. Consider the phrasal verbs get along<\/em>, get over<\/em> and get down<\/em>. All three of them have the word “get,” but when you change the preposition that follows, you go from having a good relationship to recovering from something to busting a move on the dance floor. The prepositions (or in German, the prefixes) make a huge difference!<\/p>\n

Now, when you start with a German separable verb, referred to in German as a trennbares verb<\/em> (separable verb<\/a>), you might begin working with it in the infinitive form<\/a>. Or at least you should if you prefer to keep life simple.<\/p>\n

For example,\u00a0aufstehen<\/i> <\/strong>(“stand up” or “get up”) is literally \u201cupstand\u201d or “upget” since the preposition is stuck on the front.\u00a0If you want to talk about what time you get up in the morning, you would split that auf-<\/em> off from the front of the trennbares Verb<\/em> (aufstehen<\/em>), you would put it at the end of the sentence and conjugate\u00a0stehen<\/em> like you normally would:<\/p>\n

Ich stehe<\/strong> um sieben Uhr auf<\/strong>. <\/em>(I get up at seven o’clock.)<\/p>\n

Let’s do another one with the verb\u00a0zuh\u00f6ren <\/strong><\/em>(to listen to).<\/p>\n

If you want to say \u201cI listen to you,\u201d separate the zu-<\/em> from the front and\u00a0put it at the end, again conjugating the main verb, h\u00f6ren,<\/em> according to the subject:<\/p>\n

Ich h\u00f6re<\/strong> dir zu<\/strong>.<\/em> (I listen to you.)<\/p>\n

Also, remember that in this case we say\u00a0dir<\/strong><\/em> and not\u00a0dich<\/em> or\u00a0du<\/em> because we\u2019re using the dative case<\/a>. What a lovely, easy language!<\/p>\n

As a final, common example, if you call your friend, you use the verb\u00a0anrufen<\/strong><\/em> (to call), which becomes:<\/p>\n

Ich rufe<\/strong> meine Freundin an<\/strong>.<\/em>\u00a0(I call my friend.)<\/p>\n

As is the case in English with phrasal verbs, these separable verbs can trip up learners, but they’re used in all kinds of common expressions. So that means that you really do need to learn them if you want to become completely proficient in the language.<\/p>\n

Be careful of prefixes\u2014not all of them are separable!<\/h3>\n

There are plenty of examples of prefixes that change the meanings of words. Many of these are prepositions but, just as in English, some of them are not standalone words, but simply prefixes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Let’s consider the verb\u00a0laufen<\/em> (to walk). Well,\u00a0sich verlaufen<\/em> means to go astray. So you might think, \u201cAh ha! Here we have a prefix,\u00a0ver<\/em>, stuck on to the beginning of the verb. I know what to do if I want to conjugate it. I put the prefix at the end of the sentence and conjugate the core verb like normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that’s not correct in this case.<\/p>\n

If you said \u201cIch laufe mich ver,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0your sentence would be incorrect and you\u2019d confuse your listener. That means “I walk me…ver<\/em>” with the prefix ver-<\/em> simply stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no real standalone meaning.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that ver-<\/em> is a prefix and it\u2019s also true that it\u2019s stuck onto a core verb (a verb that would be perfectly fine without that prefix), but this is not<\/strong> a separable verb. This is a non-separable verb. In this case, you leave that prefix right where it is and conjugate the rest of the word like normal:<\/p>\n

Ich verlaufe<\/strong> mich.<\/em> (I go astray.)<\/p>\n

Before you go using separable verbs in German, you’re going to want to keep reading.\u00a0Ich empfehle es.<\/em> (I recommend it.) See how I sneaked that example in there?\u00a0Empfehlen<\/em> (to recommend) has the prefix emp-,<\/em> which does not separate from the core verb, so we leave it right there and work around it, conjugating the core verb like normal.<\/p>\n

How do you know if a prefix or verb is separable?<\/h3>\n

Fortunately, you don\u2019t have to go through and memorize every verb and whether or not it\u2019s a separable verb<\/a>. You can just memorize which prefixes come off and which ones don\u2019t. And if you really want to keep your required efforts to a minimum, you just need to remember which verb prefixes don\u2019t<\/strong> separate; that list is shorter and easier to remember.<\/p>\n

The following are non-separable prefixes:<\/strong><\/p>\n