0SEPARABLE AND INSEPARABLE VERB
Most of the students I have come across in my teaching career have always thought separable verbs as a phenomenon unique to German. This is not so. Separable verbs are also Present in English, but like the other grammatical features, they are not so distinctly marked. Some example of separable verbs in English are: to wind up, to call up, to pull out, to pay up, etc. separable verbs or trennbare verben, have a prefix attached to them, which, as the name suggests, is separated when the verb is conjugated, and is placed at the end of the sentence. The attached prefix gives a new meaning to the verb. To understand this, look at the example given below (the prefix is indicated here in red):
Kommen : to come
Mitkommen : to come along, to accompany
Ankommen : to arrive
Auskommen : to manage, to get along
Vorkommen : to occur, to appear
In all the example given above, the prefix modifies the base verb (here: kommen) and give rise to a new verb with a different meaning. As far as the convention goes, the infinitive or the orginal form of the separable verb is written with a slash (/) separating the prefix and the verb, and I will also follow the same convention. So, we can write the separable verbs given above as mit/kommen , aus/kommen , vor/kommen.
There are a large number of prefixes that can be used with the verbs. However,all the prefix do not make the verb separable. Some of the prefixes are also inseparable. A list of both the separable and inseparable prefixes with some example is given in the table below:
| Separable prefixes | Examples | Inseparable prefixes | Example |
| an - | an/kommen, | be- | besuchen, |
| auf - | auf/gehen, | emp- | empfangen, |
| ein - | ein/kaufen, | ent - | entkommen, |
| mit - | mit/kommen, | er- | erziehen, |
| bei - | Bei/legen, | ge- | gestehen, |
| Vor- | Vor/kommen, | miss- | missverstehen, |
| nach- | Nach/gehen, | Über- | Übersetzen, |
| Zu- | Zu/stellen, | Unter - | Untergehen, |
| aus- | aus/kommen | Wider- | widersprechen, |
| … | … | Zer - | Zerbrechen |
The separable verb is conjugated and the prefix is put at the end only when the separable verb is used as the main verb, as shown in the example given above. However, if you use the separable verb with a modal verb, the verb and the prefix are written together at the end of the sentence and are not separated. This is shown in the example given below:
Wir gehen ins Restaurant. kommen sie mit?
Wir gehen ins Restaurant. Möchten sie mitkommen?
Ich lade meine Freunde ein.
Ich möchte meine Freunde einladen.
Wann kommen Sie zurück?
Wann können Sie zurückkommen?
