German Separable Prefixes

This week’s episode of 3 Minuten Deutsch covers 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 below. 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.

How to use separable prefixes in German.

to build, to plant, to expand (German separable prefix verbs)

Was hast du heute an? What do you have on today? Ich werde morgen eine Krawatte anhaben. I will have a tie on tomorrow. (German separable prefix verbs)

Lädst du mich zur Party ein? Are you inviting me to the party? (German separable prefixes)

Er nimmt lieber ein paar Kilo langsam ab. He prefers to lose a few pounds slowly. aufgeben - to give up Wir geben heute auf. We are giving up today.

Herr Antrim bringt uns Deutsch bei. Mr. Antrim is teaching us German. durchhalten - to endure Hans hält durch. Hans is enduring.

Ich atme ein. I am breathing in. ausatmen - to breath out Ich atme aus. I am breathing out.

Macht ihr heute nicht mit? Aren't you participating today? vorschlagen - to suggest Ich schlage vor, dass wir jetzt essen. I suggest that we eat now.

Ich mache die Tür zu. I am closing the door. (German separable prefix verbs)

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.

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. #RitterderKokosnuss

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.

hören - to hear Der Junge hört gern Rockmusik.

aufhören - to stop, quit Er hört auf zu rauchen. - He is quitting smoking.

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.

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.

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?

gehen - to go Ich gehe jetzt nach Hause. - I am going home now.

fortgehen - to depart Ich gehe jetzt fort. - I am departing now.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

haben - to have Ich habe einen Kuchen. - I have a cake.

vorhaben - to have planned Ich habe heute vor, einen Kuchen zu backen.

gehen - to go Geh in die Schule! - Go to school.

vorbeigehen - to go past Geh an der Schule vorbei! - Go past the school.

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 doing poorly on the test.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

kennen - to know Ich kenne den Mann. - I know the man.

erkennen - to recognize Er erkennt mich auch. - He recognizes me too.

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.

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.

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.

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. 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.

What's next?

Next week's 3 Minuten Deutsch episode will cover indirect objects, which will serve as my introduction to the German dative case. The next several episodes after that will deal with the other uses for the dative case and some odd things that happen with the dative case.

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