A1.2 · 18 of 36

Trennbare Verben

Lesson · 4 rules · about 5 min

Get up, go shopping, call your mother, watch TV: the verbs of an ordinary day split in two, and the prefix waits at the end.

  1. 1Verb at 2, prefix at the end
  2. 2The prefixes that separate
  3. 3With a modal, the verb goes back together
  4. 4Say it: the stress tells you
Why this matters

Many everyday verbs are two pieces glued together — auf+stehen, ein+kaufen, an+rufen, fern+sehen — and in a normal sentence the glue comes off: the verb part takes position 2 and conjugates, the prefix flies to the very end. Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf. Wann rufst du mich an? The prefix carries the stress (AUFstehen), which is how you can hear that a verb is separable. The separable prefixes are the ones that are also words on their own — auf, ab, an, aus, ein, mit, vor, zu, zurück, fern — and in the dictionary the verb is listed as one word, so learning to spot them is the skill. With a modal the pieces reunite at the end: Ich muss um sieben aufstehen.

Question 1 of 10 · eins
eins1zwei2drei3vier4fünf5sechs6sieben7acht8neun9zehn10

Verbform

I get up at 7.

Ich um 7 Uhr . (aufstehen)

I get up at 7.