One of the things that is the most surprising (and exasperating) when you start learning German is the idea of a separable verb. We’re going to look at what they are and how to conjugate them in more detail. They are similar to phrasal verbs in English.
For these verbs, the particle is separated and placed at the end of the clause for simple verb tenses (as long as the clause is not subordinate or relative).
Let´s look at the separable verb "absagen" (cancel) as an example.
The verb is formed by the particle ab and the verb sagen.
"Sagen" alone means to say, but together with the particle "ab" it means "cancel".
Er sagt ein Konzert ab
He cancelled the concert
As you can observe in this example, the particle "ab" is placed at the end of the clause.
This property of separating only takes place in verb tenses that do not have an auxiliary verb (helping verb). In German, they are:
| Person | Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ich | sag-e [...] ab | I cancel |
| du | sag-st [...] ab | you cancel |
| er/sie/es | sag-t [...] ab | he/she/it cancels |
| wir | sag-en [...] ab | we cancel |
| ihr | sag-t [...] ab | you cancel (speaking to a group) |
| sie | sag-en [...] ab | they cancel |
| Person | Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ich | sag-t-e [...] ab | I cancelled |
| du | sag-te-st [...] ab | you cancelled |
| er/sie/es | sag-t-e [...] ab | he/she/it cancelled |
| wir | sag-t-en [...] ab | we cancelled |
| ihr | sag-te-t [...] ab | you cancelled |
| sie | sag-t-en [...] ab | they cancelled |
| Person | Conjugation | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 2nd person singular | sag [...] ab | cancel |
| 1st person plural | sag-en wir [...] ab | Let’s cancel |
| 2nd person plural | sag-t [...] ab | cancel |
| polite form (Sie) | sag-en Sie [...] ab | cancel |
To make the Partizip II for the separable verb, you do the same as you would for the "Partizip II" for verbs that are not separted and add the particle as a prefix.
| Infinitive | Partizip II | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| absagen | abgesagt | cancelled |
| aufmachen | aufgemacht | opened |
| umsteigen | umgestiegen | changed |
| zumachen | zugemacht | closed |
For subordinate clauses, separable verbs behave like normal verbs, meaning that they aren´t separate:
Sie hat erzählt, dass er ein Konzert absagt
She said that he’s cancelling a concert
In relative clauses the separable verbs do not split:
Ich schickte dir eine SMS, die nie ankam
I sent you a text that never arrived
Compound clauses with "(um) + zu", the separable verbs are split by placing the preposition zu between the particle and the verb:
Es ist schwer, das Spiel wegzulegen
It’s difficult to put down this game
Sometimes, particles change the meaning of the verb they accompany just slightly, other times drastically.
Separable particles are:
| Separable particles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ab- an- auf- aus- auseinander- bei- dar- | durch- ein- entgegen- entlang- fehl- fest- | her- herein- los- mit- nach- über- um- unter- | vor- vorbei- weg- weiter- wieder- zu- zurück- |
The particle "durch-" is sometimes not separable. For example: durchqueren[to traverse]
The particle "über" is normally not separable. For example: überdenken [reconsider]
The particle "unter-" is sometimes not separable.
It is not always separable:
wiederholen [to repeat] (not separable)As we said, the separable particle of the verb is placed at the end of the sentence:
Geht er ins Kino mit?
Is he also going to the movie theater?
But if a complement is taken for granted (it doesn’t provide new information) in street German (although this is not correct) is placed at the end, leaving the particle inside the sentence so that we hear:
Geht er mit ins Kino?
Is he also going to the movie theater?
We will conclude with a nice song from an amateur Austrian choir: Kurt Mikula. The song is "Zünd ein Licht an" (turn on a light).