be-, ver-, er- against an-, auf-, mit-: which one splits and which does not
CEFR A2 · part 2
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
weil and dass: the clause where the verb goes to the endJoining two clauses with weil, dass, wenn or ob and sending the conjugated verb to the…in, auf, an…: the nine that take two cases depending on wo or wohinChoosing the case with a single question: if the sentence answers wohin —where to, there…The adjective in front of the noun: when -e and when -enGiving the adjective an ending when it sits in front of the noun, with the short rule…war, hatte, konnte: the past tense people do say out loudUsing in the past the eight verbs a German never puts into the Perfekt when speaking…The imperative and German's three «you»: du, ihr, SieGiving an instruction to the three people German lets you address, and knowing which is…Comparing in German: -er, als, and am -stenComparing two things and pointing out the top one, with German's three pieces: the -er…The rule, in three lines
A German prefix separates or not depending on where the STRESS falls, and you can hear it before you know it. If the stress is on the prefix, it separates: ANrufen, AUFstehen, MITkommen, and in the present the piece goes to the end —Ich rufe dich an—. If the stress is on the stem, it never separates: verSTEhen, beZAHlen, erZÄHlen. The inseparable ones are six and form a closed list: be-, ver-, er-, ent-, ge-, zer-. Everything else separates.
The usual slip. Splitting the six that do not split: Ich stehe dich ver. Those prefixes mean nothing on their own, so they cannot live loose at the end of a clause; an, auf and mit do mean something and that is why they go off alone. And the same stress decides the participle: separables put the ge- inside, angerufen, and inseparables take none, verstanden.
Why it catches you out. English has phrasal verbs —«pick up», «call up», «throw away»— and they behave almost exactly like German separables, including moving to the end: «I picked my sister up». That is the best model of the four by a distance. What English does not have is the inseparable set, so be-, ver- and er- are the part to memorise.