11.1 Trennbare Verben und reflexive Verben
Separable-Prefix Verbs/Trennbare Verben
The Germans have an inhuman way of cutting up their verbs. Now a verb has a hard time enough of it in this world when it’s all together. It’s downright inhuman to split it up. But that’s just what those Germans do. They take part of a verb and put it down here, like a stake, and they take the other part of it and put it away over yonder like another stake, and between these two limits they just shovel in German.
— Mark Twain, 1906 (Disapperance of Literature)
Many verbs in German can add a prefix which modifies or changes the meaning of the verb. Those prefixes are words that can stand on their own (e.g., auf, aus, zu). When they are added to a verb, they become the stressed syllable. Here are some verbs with separable prefixes:
| Verb | Prefix + Verb |
|---|---|
| hören–to hear | zuhören– to listen
weghören – to not listen |
| stehen– to stand | aufstehen– to stand up or to get up |
| machen–to do | zumachen–to close
ausmachen–to switch off weitermachen – to continue |
| sehen–to see | fernsehen– to watch TV
aussehen–to look zusehen – to watch or observe wegsehen – to look away |
| kommen–to come | ankommen–to arrive
mitkommen–to come along |
| kaufen– to buy | einkaufen– to go shopping/ to shop for |
| gehen–to go | ausgehen–to go out
weggehen – to leave weitergehen – to continue on |
| fangen– to catch | anfangen–to start, to begin |
| lesen– to read | weiterlesen– to continue reading |
| schlafen– to sleep | einschlafen– to fall asleep |
| rufen– to call, shout | anrufen– to call someone on the phone |
When you use any of these verbs in a sentence in present tense, you separate the prefix from the verb and put it at the end of the sentence. The conjugated form of the verb goes in second position as usual. Here are some examples:
- Die Kinder machen den Fernseher aus. (The children turn off the TV.)
- Hans kauft im Supermarkt ein. (Hans goes shopping in the supermarket.)
- Wir gehen heute Abend mit Freunden aus. (We are going out with friends this evening.)
- Der Bus kommt um 19 Uhr in Köln an. (The bus arrives in Cologne at 7pm.)
- Tim ruft seine Freundin an. (Tim calls/phones his friend.)
In their dictionary forms, the infinitive of separable prefix verbs will separate the prefix from the rest of the verb with a dot:
- an·fangen—to begin, start
- auf·machen—to open
- zu·machen—to close
- mit·kommen—to come along, to come with
- vorbei·kommen—to come by
- zurück·kommen—to come back
- aus·machen—to turn off
- kennen·lernen—to get to know
- ab·räumen—to tidy up (a room, table, etc.)
How to decipher the meaning of separable prefix verbs (trennbare Verben) on your own
Sometimes, you can guess what a verb means based on the prefix. The prefix zurück, for example, means “back” or “return.” You can combine it with just about any verb of motion:
- zurück·kommen—to come back
- zurück·bringen—to bring back
- zurück·laufen—to run back (a→ä)
- zurück·gehen—to go back
- zurück·fahren—to drive back (a→ä)
- zurück·fliegen—to fly back
- mit·machen—to participate, do things with other people
- mit·kommen—to come along, to come with someone
- mit·essen—to eat along with (e→i)
- mit·singen—to sing along with
- mit·fahren—to drive along with (a→ä)
- weg·gehen—to go away
- weg·laufen—to run away (a→ä)
- weg·werfen—to throw away (e→i)
- weg·fliegen—to fly away
- weg·fahren—to drive away (a→ä)
Reflexive Pronouns with Verbs/Reflexive Verben
A reflexive pronoun is used together with a verb to indicate that the action is done to oneself or for oneself. Adding the reflexive pronoun can change the meaning of the verb. Compare the following sentences:
- Ich wasche den Hund. (I wash the dog.) — subject + verb + direct object
- Ich wasche mich. (I wash myself.) — subject + verb + reflexive pronoun in accusative
The accusative reflexive pronoun differs from the accusative personal pronoun only in a few forms:
| Personal Pronouns: Nominative | Personal Pronouns: Accusative | Reflexive Pronouns: Accusative |
| ich | mich | mich |
| du | dich | dich |
| er/sie/es | ihn/sie/es | sich/sich/sich |
| wir | uns | uns |
| ihr | euch | euch |
| sie/Sie | sie/Sie | sich/sich |
Here are some examples of verbs that are frequently reflexive:
- sich waschen: Sie wäscht sich jeden Morgen. (She washes herself every morning.)
- sich duschen: Ich dusche mich jeden Tag. (I take a shower every day.)
- sich kämmen: Die Kinder kämmen sich. (The children comb their hair.)
- sich rasieren: Er rasiert sich nicht jeden Tag. (He doesn‘t shave every day.)
- sich schminken: Schminkst du dich immer? (Do you always put on make-up?)
- sich anziehen: Morgens zieht ihr euch an. (In the morning, you are getting dressed.)
- sich umziehen: Wir ziehen uns schnell um. (We are quickly changing our clothes.)
When a sentence starts with the subject, the reflexive pronoun is placed right after the verb:
- Ich dusche mich jeden Tag.
When a sentence starts with a different element, the reflexive pronoun usually follows the subject:
- Heute schminke ich mich nicht.
Some verbs in German always have to be used with a reflexive pronoun. Here are some examples:
- sich ausruhen: Heute ruhe ich mich aus. (Today, I’m resting.)
- sich erkälten: Tim erkältet sich jeden Winter. (Tim catches a cold every winter.)
- sich aufregen: Mein Vater regt sich über das schlechte Wetter auf. (My father is upset about the bad weather.)
- sich ärgern: Ärgerst du dich oft? (Do you often get mad?)
- sich freuen: Freut ihr euch auf den nächsten Sommer? (Are you looking forward to next summer?)
- sich entspannen: Am Wochenende entspannen wir uns. (On the weekend, we will relax.)
- sich erholen: Oma war krank. Jetzt erholt sie sich. (Grandma was sick. Now she is recovering.)
“2.12” and “4.2” from Willkommen: Deutsch für alle by Claudia Kost and Crystal Sawatzky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
“Section 4-3” from German 102 by Dr. Rebecca Linam is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
