Ch: 2, Level 3, Sparks And Vail German Grammar - Verbs: Separable And Inseparable Prefixes

Front 1

Inseparable prefixes: three notes (plus one not so important)

Back 1

(i) [CONJUGATION] adding a prefix does not affect its conjugation (e.g. verstehe, verstand, hat verstanden); (ii) [NO GE] verbs with inseparable prefixes do not take a ge-prefix in forming their past participles; (iii) [SEIN or HABEN] whether a verb takes haben or sein in the perfect tenses can be altered by the addition of an inseparable prefix (e.g. ist gekommen, but hat bekommen); (not-so-important) [NOT-STRESSED] inseparable prefixes are not stressed.

Front 2

common inseparable prefixes (8)

Back 2

emp-, ent-, er-;
be- ge-;
ver-, zer; miss-

Front 3

inseparable prefixes: unten and über - the rule

Back 3

The prepositions "unter" and "über" usually function as inseparable prefixes [which is unusual because prepositions usually function as separable prefixes]

Front 4

separable prefixes: the golden rule

Back 4

separable prefixes are normally prepositions or adverbs; that is, they are usually complete words in their own right: e.g. mit-kommen, weg-gehen

Front 5

separable prefixes: four notes [hints: (i) position, (ii) ge, (iii) forming pres. perf., (iv) stress]

Back 5

(i) [END POSITION] the separable prefix always comes at the end of the sentence; ; (ii) [YES-GE] verbs with separable prefixes take a ge-prefix in forming their past participles (e.g. "mitgekommen"); (iii) [SEIN or HABEN] whether a verb takes haben or sein in the perfect tenses can be altered by the addition of a separable prefix (e.g. hat gestanden, but ist aufgestanden); (iv) [PREFIX-STRESS] separable prefixes - rather than the stem of the basic verb - receive the primary stress.

Front 6

common separable prefixes

Back 6

ab-, an-, auf-, aus-, ein-, los-, mit-, um-, vor-, vorbei-, weg-, weiter-, zurück-, zusammen-

Front 7

common separable prefixes with (normally) dative objects

Back 7

bei-, nach-, zu- (Du hörst mir nicht zu. You are not listening to me. Warum läufst du ihm nach? Why are you running after him?)

Front 8

separable prefixes: verbs as separable prefixes

Back 8

Even verbs may sometimes function as separable prefixes. When they do they always appear in their infinitive form, e.g. Ich lerne ihn kennen. (In accordance with spelling reform, they are never written as one word - inf: kennen lernen; past part: kennen gelernt)