German Separable Prefixes
This week’s episode of 3 Minuten Deutsch explains the separable prefix verbs in German. I gave a few examples and went over some rules. If you want to see the video for that, you can watch it above. If you have trouble keeping up with the speed, you can always find the slides used in the video below the video. As usual, this blog post hopes to expand upon the topic in the 3 Minuten Deutsch episode.
Which Prefixes are Separable?
In the video I mentioned that there are prefixes that are separable and there are those which are not separable. Rather than send you to about.com for their list of separable and inseparable prefixes, I decided to make my own in a pretty little chart. I even added what they do to a verb, most of the time. It is important to realize that the definitions I have given are generalizations and should not be considered to be the only definition for a particular prefix. Also, these are not the only separable and inseparable prefixes. These are just the ones I consider to be most important.
ab – off
schneiden
to cut
Der Koch schneidet die Zwiebeln.
The cook cuts the onions.
abschneiden
to cut off
Der Ritter schneidet den Arm des anderen Ritters ab.
The knight is cutting the arm off of the other knight.
an – at, on
kommen
to come
Ich komme heute zu Besuch.
I am coming to visit today.
ankommen
to arrive
Der Zug kommt fast immer pünktlich an.
The train almost always arrives on time.
auf – up
hören
to hear
Der Junge hört gern Rockmusik.
The boy likes to listen to rock music.
aufhören
to stop, quit
Er hört auf zu rauchen.
He is quitting smoking.
aus – out
geben
to give
Meine Mutter gibt mir ein Geschenk zum Geburtstag.
My mother is giving me a gift for my birthday.
ausgeben
to spend
Du gibst zu viel Geld aus.
You are spending too much money.
ein – in, into
fallen
to fall
Er fällt zu Boden.
He is falling to the floor.
einfallen
to occur
Es fällt mir ein, dass du klüger als ich bist.
It occurs to me that you are smarter than I.
fern – far
sehen
to see
Siehst du den Bären?
Do you see the bear?
fernsehen
to watch TV
Siehst du gern fern?
Do you like to watch television?
fort – away
gehen
to go
Ich gehe jetzt nach Hause.
I am going home now.
fortgehen
to depart
Ich gehe jetzt fort.
I am departing now.
her – to here
stellen
to place, put
Der Arbeiter stellt die Tasse auf den Tisch.
The worker puts the cup on the table.
herstellen
to manufacture
Der Arbeiter stellt Tassen her.
The worker manufactures cups.
hin – to there
weisen
to point
Er weist den Weg nach Hause.
He points the way home.
hinweisen
to warn
Der Polizist weist den Mann darauf hin, dass er ins Gefängnis gehen könnte.
The policeman warned the man that he could go to jail.
mit – along, with
machen
to do, make
Ich mache immer meine Hausaufgaben.
I always do my homework.
mitmachen
to participate
Wenn meine Freunde Fußball spielen, mache ich immer mit.
When my friends play soccer, I always participate.
nach – after
bessern
to improve
Der Markt bessert sich bald.
The market will soon improve.
nachbessern
to repair
Der Verkäufer bessert das Product nach.
The sales person repairs the product.
um – around, at
ziehen
to pull
Die Frau zieht das Seil.
The woman is pulling on the rope.
umziehen
to move
Die Frau zieht nach Berlin um.
The woman is moving to Berlin.
vor – before
haben
to have
Ich habe einen Kuchen.
I have a cake.
vorhaben
to have planned
Ich habe heute vor, einen Kuchen zu backen.
I plan to bake a cake.
vorbei – past
gehen
to go
Geh in die Schule!
Go to school.
vorbeigehen
to go past
Geh an der Schule vorbei!
Go past the school.
weg – away
kommen
to come
Kommst du nicht?
Aren’t you coming?
wegkommen
to come away from something
Er kommt in der Prüfung schlecht weg.
He is coming away from the test poorly. (He did bad on the test.)
zu – closed
knallen
to bang
Ich knalle meinen Kopf gegen die Tür.
I am banging my head against the door.
zuknallen
to slam
Ich knalle die Tür zu.
I am slamming the door shut.
zurück – back
bezahlen
to pay
Er bezahlt immer die Rechnung.
He always pays the bill.
zurückbezahlen
to repay
Er bezahlt alles zurück, was ich ihm geliehen habe.
He pays back all that I loaned him.
zusammen – together
fassen
to catch
Der Junge fasst den Ball.
The boy catches the ball.
zusammenfassen
to summarize
Der Junge fasst das Buch zusammen.
The boy summarizes the book.
Inseparable German Prefixes
be – transitive verb creator
antworten
to answer
Der Schüler antwortet mir nicht.
The student isn’t answering me.
beantworten
to answer
Der Schüler beantwortet die Frage nicht.
The student isn’t answering the question.
ent – separation
decken
to cover
Der Untersuchungsrichter deckt die Leiche.
The coroner covers the body.
entdecken
to discover
Der Untersuchungsrichter entdeckt die Leiche.
The coroner discovers the body.
er – stresses the outcome
kennen
to know
Ich kenne den Mann.
I know the man.
erkennen
to recognize
Er erkennt mich auch.
He recognizes me too.
ge – completed action
brauchen
to need
Ich brauche einen Kuli.
I need a pen.
gebrauchen
to use
Der Junge gebraucht den Kuli um zu schreiben.
The boy uses the pen in order to write.
miss – ill, mistaken
brauchen
to need
Die Frau braucht ein neues Auto.
The woman needs a new car.
missbrauchen
to abuse
Der böse Junge missbraucht den armen Hund.
The evil boy abuses the poor dog.
ver – usually a bad version of the original verb
laufen
to walk, go
Hans läuft nach Hause.
Hans is walking home.
verlaufen
to go astray
Hans verläuft sich im Wald.
Hans is getting lost in the forest.
zer – apart
stören
to disturb
Das stört mich nicht.
That doesn’t bother me.
zerstören
to destroy
Der Außerirdischer zerstört die Menschen.
The alien destroys the people.
As I mentioned in the video, there is way too much information about prefixes for me to cover it in one video (or in one blog post). The advice I would give to you about German prefixes is that you should learn which prefixes can be separated and which ones can’t be. Once you know which ones can be separated, you should learn the rules about them, which were listed at the top of this post.
I personally never learned what the prefixes meant in general. I learned each verb as I added vocabulary in my German learning. This method allows you to understand some of the nuances that occur in German with these prefixes. Some of the prefixes don’t fit into any nice, neat category. They do some weird things to the meanings of verbs. The meanings listed above are just generalizations. For this reason, I like to learn each verb on its own and just remember which prefixes can be removed and which ones can’t.
More About Separable Verbs
Separable Verbs Skit
Separable Verbs Worksheet Explanation
Separable Prefix Song
