edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
- 1Try
- 2Learn
- 3Practise
- 4Check
The rule, in three lines
Some verbs carry a prefix that DETACHES when you conjugate them and flies to the end of the sentence: aufstehen gives Ich stehe um sieben Uhr auf. The commonest separable prefixes are auf-, an-, aus-, ein-, mit-, zu- and vor-, recognisable because they carry the stress. In the infinitive the prefix rejoins.
The usual slip. Conjugating it whole, without releasing the prefix: «Ich aufstehe um sieben». The prefix goes right to the end, however far that is, and sits there alone until the full stop.
Why it catches you out. You have the best hook of the four languages: phrasal verbs. You already say «I turn the light off» with the particle detached. The difference is where it lands. English lets you choose — «turn off the light» or «turn the light off» — and German does not: the prefix always goes last.