Chapter 12 of 17 · Explore the German path
Verbs and stories · Chapter 12 of 17
Separable verbs: doing words that split in half
This is the German reading trap. Some doing words are two pieces, and the second piece waits at the end of the line, so the meaning of sah … an only arrives with the last word.
≈ 3 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- Some doing words are two pieces, like English “look up”; in a sentence the second piece waits at the very end.
- sah … an
zah … an is “looked at”, not “saw”. - A stray auf, an, mit, weg, zu
owf, an, mit, vek, tsoo at the end is almost always the other half of the verb. - So read to the end before you decide what the doing word meant.
This is the German reading trap — not the cases, not the endings. Some doing words are made of two pieces, like English “look up”. The dictionary writes them as one word; a sentence splits them, leaving the front piece in its slot and parking the other piece at the very end.
One word in the dictionary, two pieces in the sentence
Each row shows a doing word whole, then split. Expect the second piece, and the end of a sentence stops surprising you.
The fox looked at the bird.
Der Fuchs sah den Vogel an.
dair fooks zah dayn FOH-gul an
Stop at sah
Read the last word first
- Die Sonne geht auf.
The last word is half of the doing word.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Die Sonne geht auf.dee ZON-uh gayt owf “The sun rises.” - Der Wolf sieht den Hasen an.
Not “sees”. Check the last word.
Show answer +Hide answer −
Der Wolf sieht den Hasen an.dair volf zeet dayn HAH-zen an “The wolf looks at the rabbit.” Hase HAH-zuh is one of a few nouns that grow an -n when done to. Same animal.