German Separable Verbs: What They Are and How to Use Them

Imagine learning the English verb "to pick up." Now imagine that in certain sentences, "pick" stays near the beginning and "up" teleports to the very end — no matter how long the sentence is. So instead of "I pick up my friend from the airport at 3pm," you'd say "I pick my friend from the airport at 3pm up."

That's essentially what German separable verbs do. And they do it constantly.

Aufstehen means "to get up." But in a present tense sentence, auf- detaches and flies to the end: Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf — "I get up at 7." The verb splits in half, the prefix waits patiently at the end of the clause, and the rest of the sentence sits in between like the filling in a grammatical sandwich.

If this sounds chaotic, it is — at first. But separable verbs follow clear, consistent rules. Once you learn those rules and recognise which prefixes are separable, the system clicks. This guide covers everything you need: how they split, when they don't, which prefixes to watch for, and a practical list of the most common separable verbs you'll encounter as a learner.

What Makes a Verb "Separable"?

A separable verb (trennbares Verb) is a verb with a prefix that detaches from the base verb in certain sentence structures. The verb has two parts:

The prefix — a small word stuck to the front (like auf-, an-, mit-, ein-)
The base verb — the main verb underneath (like stehen, fangen, kommen, kaufen)

Together they form a compound verb with a meaning that's often different from the base verb alone. Stehen means "to stand." Aufstehen means "to get up." Verstehen means "to understand." The prefix changes the meaning — sometimes predictably, sometimes dramatically.

The key question is: does the prefix separate from the verb in a sentence, or does it stay attached?

The Rule: When Do They Split?

Separable verbs split in main clauses when the verb is conjugated in the present tense or simple past. The conjugated part stays in the verb's fixed position (second position in a main clause), and the prefix goes to the end.

They split in:

Present tense main clauses:

Ich stehe jeden Morgen um 7 Uhr auf. — I get up every morning at 7.
Er ruft seine Mutter an. — He calls his mother.
Wir kaufen im Supermarkt ein. — We shop at the supermarket.

Simple past (Präteritum) main clauses:

Sie stand früh auf. — She got up early.
Er rief mich gestern an. — He called me yesterday.

Imperative (commands):

Steh sofort auf! — Get up right now!
Ruf mich an! — Call me!
Mach bitte die Tür auf! — Please open the door!

They stay together in:

Subordinate clauses (after weil, dass, wenn, ob, als, etc.). In subordinate clauses, the conjugated verb moves to the end — and when it does, the prefix reattaches:

..., weil ich jeden Morgen um 7 Uhr aufstehe. — ...because I get up every morning at 7.
Er sagt, dass er seine Mutter anruft. — He says that he calls his mother.
Ich weiß nicht, ob sie morgen mitkommt. — I don't know if she's coming along tomorrow.

The logic: the prefix wants to be at the end of the clause. The subordinate clause verb also wants to be at the end. When they both want the same spot, they merge back together. Reunited.

With modal verbs (können, müssen, wollen, sollen, dürfen, möchten). The modal verb conjugates and takes the second position. The separable verb goes to the end in its infinitive form — and in the infinitive, it's always one word:

Ich muss um 7 Uhr aufstehen. — I have to get up at 7.
Kannst du mich morgen anrufen? — Can you call me tomorrow?
Wir wollen heute einkaufen. — We want to shop today.

In the infinitive with zu. When a separable verb appears with zu (the equivalent of English "to"), the zu squeezes in between the prefix and the base verb — written as one word:

Es ist schwer, so früh aufzustehen. — It's hard to get up so early.
Ich habe vergessen, dich anzurufen. — I forgot to call you.
Er versucht, damit aufzuhören. — He's trying to stop (doing that).

This is the part that looks the strangest to English speakers — aufzustehen, anzurufen, aufzuhören — but the pattern is always the same: prefix + zu + base verb, no spaces.

Past Tense: Where the Prefix Gets Surrounded

In the present perfect (Perfekt) — the past tense Germans use most in everyday speech — separable verbs form their past participle by inserting -ge- between the prefix and the base verb:

aufstehen → aufgestanden — Ich bin um 7 Uhr aufgestanden. (I got up at 7.)
anrufen → angerufen — Er hat mich angerufen. (He called me.)
einkaufen → eingekauft — Wir haben eingekauft. (We went shopping.)
aufmachen → aufgemacht — Sie hat das Fenster aufgemacht. (She opened the window.)

The formula: prefix + ge + past participle of the base verb.

Compare this to inseparable verbs, where ge- is absent entirely: verstehen → verstanden (understood), bekommen → bekommen (received). That missing ge- is one of the clearest signals that a verb is inseparable.

Also note: some separable verbs use sein instead of haben as their auxiliary in the past tense — typically verbs involving movement or a change of state. Aufstehen uses sein (Ich bin aufgestanden), while anrufen uses haben (Ich habe angerufen). We touched on this distinction in our German cases guide — knowing which auxiliary a verb takes is one of those grammar details worth checking every time you learn a new verb.

Which Prefixes Are Separable?

This is the practical part. Certain prefixes are always separable, others are never separable, and a handful can go either way depending on the verb.

Always Separable

These prefixes always detach from the verb in main clauses:

Prefix	Meaning Hint	Example Verb	Meaning
ab-	off, away	abfahren	to depart
an-	on, at, to	anfangen	to begin
auf-	up, open	aufstehen	to get up
aus-	out	ausgehen	to go out
ein-	in, into	einkaufen	to shop
mit-	with, along	mitkommen	to come along
nach-	after	nachdenken	to think about / reflect
vor-	before, forward	vorstellen	to introduce / to imagine
zu-	to, closed	zumachen	to close
zurück-	back	zurückkommen	to come back
weg-	away	weggehen	to go away
fest-	firm, tight	festhalten	to hold on to
frei-	free	freigeben	to release
her-	toward (speaker)	herkommen	to come here
hin-	away (from speaker)	hingehen	to go there
los-	off, start	losfahren	to set off
raus-	out (colloquial)	rausgehen	to go out
rein-	in (colloquial)	reinkommen	to come in
um-	around, over	umziehen	to move (house)
vorbei-	past, by	vorbeikommen	to come by / visit

Never Separable

These prefixes always stay attached to the verb — in every sentence structure, every tense, no exceptions:

Prefix	Example Verb	Meaning
be-	bekommen	to receive
emp-	empfehlen	to recommend
ent-	entscheiden	to decide
er-	erklären	to explain
ge-	gehören	to belong to
miss-	missverstehen	to misunderstand
ver-	verstehen	to understand
zer-	zerstören	to destroy

A helpful mnemonic: the inseparable prefixes are unstressed — the emphasis falls on the base verb, not the prefix. Say verSTEHen out loud. The stress is on steh, not ver. Now say AUFstehen. The stress is on auf. That stress pattern is the single most reliable way to tell separable from inseparable verbs when you hear them spoken.

The Tricky Ones: Sometimes Separable, Sometimes Not

A few prefixes can be either separable or inseparable, depending on the specific verb — and the meaning changes:

Prefix	Separable Example	Meaning	Inseparable Example	Meaning
um-	umziehen	to move (house)	umgeben	to surround
über-	übersetzen (sep.)	to cross over (a river)	übersetzen (insep.)	to translate
unter-	untergehen	to go under / to set (sun)	unterschreiben	to sign
durch-	durchlesen	to read through	durchsuchen	to search through
wieder-	wiederkommen	to come back	wiederholen	to repeat

The übersetzen pair is famous: Ich setze über den Fluss über (I cross over the river — separable) vs Ich übersetze den Text (I translate the text — inseparable). Same spelling, completely different meanings, different stress patterns. Context and pronunciation are your guides.

The 20 Most Useful Separable Verbs

These are the separable verbs you'll encounter most often as a learner. Every one of them is worth looking up, saving, and practising.

Verb	Meaning	Example Sentence
aufstehen	to get up	Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf.
anfangen	to begin	Wann fängt der Film an?
aufhören	to stop	Hör bitte auf!
anrufen	to call (phone)	Ruf mich morgen an.
aufmachen	to open	Mach bitte das Fenster auf.
zumachen	to close	Mach die Tür zu.
einkaufen	to shop	Wir kaufen samstags ein.
ausgehen	to go out	Gehst du heute Abend aus?
mitkommen	to come along	Kommst du mit?
mitbringen	to bring along	Bring bitte Brot mit.
zurückkommen	to come back	Wann kommst du zurück?
umziehen	to move (house)	Wir ziehen nächste Woche um.
vorstellen	to introduce	Darf ich mich vorstellen?
nachdenken	to think about / reflect	Ich denke darüber nach.
vorbereiten	to prepare	Er bereitet das Essen vor.
einladen	to invite	Ich lade dich zum Essen ein.
aufräumen	to tidy up	Räum bitte dein Zimmer auf.
abholen	to pick up (someone)	Ich hole dich am Bahnhof ab.
stattfinden	to take place	Das Meeting findet um 10 statt.
teilnehmen	to participate	Er nimmt am Kurs teil.

Notice how each example sentence has the prefix sitting at the end — that's the pattern in action. Read each sentence out loud and feel the rhythm of the split. After enough repetition, it starts to feel natural rather than strange.

Common Mistakes With Separable Verbs

We covered this briefly in the 15 most common German mistakes, but it's worth expanding here.

Mistake 1: Forgetting to send the prefix to the end

Ich aufstehe um 7 Uhr. ❌ Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf. ✅

The most basic error. Your brain wants to keep the word together because that's how English works. German says no.

Mistake 2: Splitting the verb in a subordinate clause

..., weil ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf. ❌ ..., weil ich um 7 Uhr aufstehe. ✅

In subordinate clauses, the verb goes to the end and the prefix reattaches. Splitting it here is a double error — wrong verb position and unnecessary separation.

Mistake 3: Forgetting ge- goes between the prefix and the base verb

Ich habe geaufgestanden. ❌ Ich bin aufgestanden. ✅

The past participle inserts -ge- between the prefix and the base: auf-ge-standen. Also note the auxiliary — aufstehen uses sein, not haben.

Mistake 4: Not knowing whether a verb is separable

Ich verstehe das nicht. ✅ (verstehen is inseparable) Ich stehe das nicht ver. ❌

This is the most frustrating mistake because it comes from not knowing the verb's properties. Verstehen (to understand) is inseparable — the ver- never detaches. Aufstehen (to get up) is separable — the auf- always detaches in main clauses. The only way to avoid this mistake is to check when you learn the verb.

How to Know If a Verb Is Separable

Three methods, ranked by reliability:

1. Listen for the stress. In separable verbs, the stress falls on the prefix: AUFstehen, ANfangen, EINkaufen. In inseparable verbs, the stress falls on the stem: verSTEhen, beKOMmen, erKLÄren. This is the fastest diagnostic and works nearly every time.

2. Check the prefix against the lists above. If the prefix is auf-, an-, ein-, mit-, aus-, ab-, zu-, vor-, nach-, zurück-, weg-, los-, her-, hin-, or raus-/rein-, it's separable. If it's be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ge-, miss-, ver-, or zer-, it's inseparable.

3. Look it up. When you encounter a new verb with a prefix, check whether it's separable before you commit it to memory. Knowing this property upfront — the same way you'd learn the article of a noun — saves you from building bad habits that are hard to undo later.

The Bigger Picture: Why Separable Verbs Exist

Separable verbs aren't a quirk — they're a feature. German uses prefixes to build new verbs from existing ones, the same way it uses compound nouns to build new nouns. A single base verb can generate a whole family of related meanings:

kommen (to come):

ankommen — to arrive
mitkommen — to come along
zurückkommen — to come back
vorbeikommen — to come by / visit
umkommen — to perish
auskommen — to get by / manage

machen (to make/do):

aufmachen — to open
zumachen — to close
mitmachen — to participate
ausmachen — to turn off / to matter

Once you know the base verb and understand the prefixes, you can often guess the meaning of a new separable verb before looking it up. Weg- means "away" and gehen means "to go" — so weggehen means "to go away." Ein- means "in" and laden means "to load" — so einladen means "to load in," which evolved into "to invite."

This composability is one of German's great strengths. Learning separable verbs isn't just about memorising a grammar rule — it's about understanding the system that lets German build precise meaning from simple parts.

Look Up Separable Verbs on Sprachlify

This is one of the grammar areas where looking a word up properly pays off the most. When you search for a verb on Sprachlify's translator, the result tells you whether the verb is separable, what auxiliary it takes (haben or sein), and shows you an example sentence with the verb used in context — prefix split and all. Registered users also get audio pronunciation, so you can hear the stress pattern that distinguishes separable from inseparable verbs.

Every verb you look up can be saved to your personal vocabulary log. Over time, you'll build a collection where each verb comes pre-loaded with the grammatical details that matter: separability, auxiliary, conjugation pattern. That's the kind of vocabulary depth that turns words you've memorised into words you can actually use.

Want to understand the case system that works alongside separable verbs? Read next: German Cases Explained: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive