Inseparable Prefix Verbs in German

In this lesson you will learn how to use the inseparable prefix verbs in German. I explain when not to separate the prefix from a German verb and I’ll show you a list of the inseparable prefixes. You will learn how these inseparable verbs work and how to use a variety of inseparable verbs in German through a ton of example sentences. You will also learn how these inseparable prefixes change the meanings of the verbs. 

This lesson is the first of a series of lessons about prefixes added to German verbs. This will be the only lesson about inseparable verbs. In the next several lessons I will explain how to use the separable verbs, which separable prefixes are the most common and which prefixes are less common. 

What are verb prefixes and what do they do? 

German verbs are often modified with prefixes. They change the meaning and morph one verb into another. For example, the verb “geben” is often translated as “to give”, but when you add the prefix “aus-” we translate it with the English verb “to spend”. While this does more accurately represent the usage of the verb “ausgeben”, you can also translate it as “to give out”. This tells us the prefix aus- changes the direction of the “geben” from a more general non-specific “away from the subject” direction to a slightly more specific “outward” direction.

Basically every verb in German has a direction of sorts. The direction of “lernen” is “from less to more”. The direction of “leben” is “forward”. The direction of “singen” is “from your mouth away”. These directions are changed by prefixes.

Most prefixes, like “aus-” are separable. This means that the prefix is often moved to the end of the sentence. For example:

Ich gebe zwanzig Euro für das Konzert aus. -
I am spending twenty Euros for the concert.

Which prefixes in German are inseparable? 

Some prefixes are inseparable. This means that they modify the meaning of the verb, but they stay attached instead of being moved to the end of the sentence. For example, “kommen” means “to come”, but “bekommen” means “to receive”. Although these prefixes don’t get removed, you should be aware of them, because they won’t take the ge- prefix that is added in the Perfekt tense, while the separable verbs will.

The list of inseparable prefixes is: be-, ent-, emp-, er-, ge-, miss-, ver-, and zer-.

Rules for Inseparable Prefixes

Now that we know what they look like and have a general idea of their purpose, let’s talk about the rules. As I mentioned, the inseparable prefixes are the easy ones. They simply act like normal verbs. You may recognize the base of the verb, but the meaning has changed due to the prefix. In the present (Präsens), future (Futur 1) and simple past (Präteritum) tenses, you simply treat them like normal verbs.

If the non-prefixed version is irregular in the present or past, the prefixed version is irregular in the same way in the same tenses.

When you use a verb with an inseparable prefix in the Perfekt tense or any tense based on the Perfekt tense, the Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) and the Future Perfect (Futur 2), you don’t add ge- to the beginning of the past participle of those verbs.

This is why in my German 2 classes we have a saying: “If you have a be-, you don’t need a ge-.” This is mostly due to the fact that the only inseparable prefix their textbook seems to care about is the be- found at the beginning of words like “bekommen” (to receive), “bedanken” (to thank), “bearbeiten” (to edit), “beantworten” (to answer), and so on.

Obviously this rule applies to all of the inseparable prefixes, but it is particularly helpful for verbs that aren’t really seen as having prefixes at all like “beginnen” (to begin) and “begegnen” (to meet), as there is no such thing as “ginnen” or “gegnen”, but “beginnen” and “begegnen” are both treated as if the be- at the beginning is simply an inseparable prefix.

The only other thing that is special about the inseparable prefixes is that the emphasis of the pronunciation is on the main part of the verb and not on the prefix. So it is beantworten, bedanken, bekommen and so on NOT beantworten, bedanken, bekommen.

That’s it. There is really only one special rule for inseparable prefixes and if you are just starting to learn German, this probably won’t affect anything you are trying to express right now. At least until you start trying to speak in the past tense. Then you obviously need this rule.

How Inseparable Prefixes Affect Verb Meaning

Each prefix changes the verb in a distinct way. Now that you know the rules for using the inseparable prefix verbs, I will show you each of the inseparable prefixes and explain what they do to the meaning of the verb.

be-

This prefix generally does stuff that involves direct objects or the transitivity of a verb. In other words, sometimes it makes a verb that didn’t used to be able to take a direct accusative object take a direct object.

This happens with verbs like “antworten” and “beantworten”. Both mean “to answer”, which is often confusing for German learners. “antworten” is used to answer people and that person is indicated in the dative case. There is a sort of implied direct object of “the question”, but there is no real direct object to speak of. “beantworten” by contrast is used to directly answer questions, letters and the like. For example:

antworten - to answer
Er antwortet mir nicht. -
He doesn’t answer me.

beantworten - to answer
Er beantwortet die Frage nicht. -
He doesn’t answer the question.

This is the same for the difference between “zaubern” (to do magic or conjure up) and “bezaubern” (to enchant).

Die Hexe zaubert einen Besen. -
The witch conjures up a broom.

Die Hexe bezaubert den Besen. -
The witch enchants the broom.

In the first one, the witch created a broom (probably from “thin air” or out of nothing). In the second, there is already a broom there and she enchants it, as in the movie “The Sword in the Stone” (Die Hexe und der Zauberer) or Fantasia.

Sometimes the prefix be- shifts the action onto the object or changes it from one object to another. For example the verb “kommen” means “to come”. This indicates that the subject is going in the direction of a destination. If you add be- to this verb, it becomes “bekommen”, which means “to receive”. This moved the action from the person going somewhere to the object moving and the person being stationary. Here it is in action.

Ich komme um 3 Uhr. -
I’m coming at 3 o’clock.

Ich habe deine E-Mail bekommen. -
I received your email.

Here is another example of this happening with a be- verb.

achten - to respect, esteem
Du solltest deinen Vater achten. -
You should respect/esteem your father.

beachten - to pay attention to, heed
Du solltest die Regeln beachten. -
You should heed/pay attention to/respect the rules.

The be- prefix is easily one of the most used inseparable prefixes. One website I read said approximately 25% of all inseparable prefix verbs are made with the be- prefix. That being said, I don’t know where their numbers come from, so take these percentages with a grain of salt. Here is a decent list of the most common verbs with the prefix be-.

Start with this list and learn how to use them. Then you can move on to a giant list like the one in this FREE PDF.

ent-

This prefix is relatively popular, too. That website I mentioned just a minute ago said that about 15% of the inseparable prefix verbs start with ent-. It has a general meaning of removing something, but most often is translated with the prefixes un-, de- or dis- in English.

My personal favorite of these verbs doesn’t follow this convention, however. The verb “enthaupten” means “to behead”. (There is the option to translate it as “decapitate”, which would mean it does use one of the aforementioned English prefixes.) There is no verb “haupten”, but there is the noun “Haupt”, which refers to the main part of something. In this case, we have ent- in the front, which makes it so this verb literally means “to remove the main part”.

Der Henker enthauptet den Verbrecher. -
The executioner beheads/decapitates the criminal.

There are some less disturbing examples of this prefix, obviously. For example: the verb “laden” means “to load”, add in ent- and it means “to unload”. “decken” means “to cover”, while “entdecken” means “to discover, uncover”. Here they are in action.

Die Bibliothekarin lädt die Bücher in den Wagen. -
The librarian loads the books into the cart.

Die Bibliothekarin entlädt die Bücher vom Wagen. -
The librarian unloads the books from the cart.

Das Kind deckt den Tisch. -
The child sets the table. (covers the table with required items)

Das Kind entdeckt Kaugummi unter seinem Schreibtisch. -
The child discovers gum under his desk.

A very popular verb in this category is “entfernen”, which means “to remove”. The base is “fern”, which isn’t a verb, but is an adjective or adverb that means “far”. So this is like removing something far away from where it was. For example:

Ich weiß nicht, wie man diese Malware entfernen kann. -
I don’t know how one can remove this malware.

One that I just think is cool, because of the way it works is “entfärben”, “to bleach or discolor”. There is “färben”, which means “to dye or color”. Adding ent- makes it so you remove the coloring that was added through the verb “färben”.

Ich färbe meine Schuhe grün. -
I am dying/coloring my shoes green.

Mami, du hast meine Hose entfärbt! -
Mom, you discolored my pants!

You get the idea. ent- makes some sort of removal action with the verb. You could also think of it as a reversal of the action that happened without ent-. Again, there is a huge list of verbs that use this prefix in the free PDF I mentioned before. 

emp-

This is a variant of ent-, but is only used with these three verbs and verbs derived from them.
empfangen - to receive
empfehlen - to recommend
empfinden - to feel, sense

Ich habe keine Nachrichten empfangen. -
I haven’t received any (phone) notifications.

Der Kellner empfiehlt den Rinderbraten. -
The waiter recommends the roast beef.

Wir empfinden eine große Verantwortung für die heutigen Probleme. -
We feel a great responsibility for the problems of today.

er-

This prefix is another pretty popular one. That website I keep mentioning says it makes up 10% of all inseparable prefix verbs in German. It can be used to initiate the action of the verb.

For example: “lernen” means “to learn”, but “erlernen” is usually translated as “to master”. It can also be translated as “to learn”, however, which makes it a bit confusing. This verb is different from “lernen” in that with “lernen”, you are adding to your knowledge and the previous level of knowledge is unknown or unclear. With “erlernen”, we know that you had no prior knowledge about the subject and the learning process has begun with the sentence that you are saying.

Ich lerne Deutsch. -
I am learning German.

We don’t know how much German I knew before this sentence, but we know that the knowledge has increased as a result of this sentence.

Ich erlerne Deutsch. -
I am acquiring/learning German.

We can tell with the prefix er- that I previously didn’t have any knowledge of the language, but I am initiating the learning process with this sentence.

A strange, but colorful example of this is “trinken”, which means “to drink” and “ertrinken”, which means “to drown”.

Er trinkt Wasser. -
He is drinking water.

Er ist im Wackelpudding ertrunken. -
He drowned in pudding.

You can create a verb from an adjective using er-. If possible, the verb will add an umlaut to the base of the verb when you do this. For example: The adjective “niedrig” means “low”. When you add the prefix er- and the requisite -en at the end to make it a verb, it becomes “erniedrigen”, which is “to humiliate”. Literally “to make someone low”. As I mentioned before er- initiates the action of the verb, which means that this verb is literally starting the lowering of someone.

Der Muttersprachler erniedrigt den Lehrer, indem er jede Kleinigkeit korrigiert. -
The native speaker humiliates the teacher by correcting every little thing.

Another example of this is often used in worksheets. The adjective “ganz” means “whole”. The verb version “ergänzen” means “to complete or make whole”. Again, we are initiating the action of making something whole with this verb. For example:

Ergänze die folgenden Sätze! -
Complete the following sentences.

ge-

This is my least favorite prefix, because the meaning seems to be completely arbitrary. It’s like the Germans ran out of prefixes to use and so they just threw all of the other verbs into this category. Luckily it isn’t nearly as popular as some of the other prefixes with more definitive meanings.

I hate the verbs “brauchen” and “gebrauchen”. “brauchen” means “to need”, but “gebrauchen” means “to use”.

Ich brauche einen Bleistift. -
I need a pencil.

Ich habe einen Bleistift gebraucht. -
I needed a pencil.

Ich gebrauche einen Bleistift. -
I am using a pencil.

Ich habe den Bleistift gebrauchen. -
I used the pencil.

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IN THE PERFEKT TENSE IS -EN vs -T!

“denken” and “gedenken” are worse. Check out these examples:

Ich denke an deine Mutter. -
I am thinking about your mother.

Ich habe oft an deine Mutter gedacht. -
I thought about your mother often.

Mit dieser Tafel gedenken wir den Soldaten. -
With this plaque we are commemorating the soldiers.

Mit dieser Tafel haben wir den Soldaten gedacht. -
With this plaque we commemorated the soldiers.

This time there is literally no difference between the past participle of “gedenken” and “denken”. You can tell based on the use and the context, but still, that is bothersome.

Basically what I am saying is that you need to be careful with verbs with the prefix ge-, as they often have a non-prefixed version that shares some scary similarities to the prefixed version.

The other inseparable prefixes aren’t immune to this either. The difference between “kommen” and “bekommen” in the Perfekt tense is the use of haben or sein. Since “kommen” is an intransitive verb (doesn’t/can’t have a direct object), it uses “sein” in the Perfekt tense while “bekommen” uses “haben”. The past participle of both is “bekommen”.

As I mentioned before, the prefix ge- isn’t nearly as popular as some of the other prefixes on our list for today, but you can find them in the free PDF list of inseparable prefix verbs.

miss-

Unlike ge-, miss- is super easy to use. It is pretty much the same as the English prefix mis-. It indicates something went awry. It didn’t go as planned. Something is bad. For example: “achten” means “to respect or regard”, but “missachten” means “to disregard, disobey”.

Wir achten das Gesetz. -
We respect the law.

Er hat die Warnung missachtet. -
He is disregarded the warning.

“trauen” is “to trust”, but “misstrauen” is “to mistrust”.

Ich traue ihm nicht. -
I don’t trust him.

Ich misstraue ihm. -
I mistrust him.

A fun one is “missverstehen”, as it has two prefixes, miss- and ver-. Both of them are inseparable. “stehen” means “to stand”. “verstehen” means “to understand”. “missverstehen” means “to misunderstand”.

Elmo steht in der Ecke. -
Elmo is standing in the corner.

Elmo versteht den Mann. -
Elmo understands the man.

Elmo missversteht den Mann. -
Elmo misunderstands the man.

ver-

There are a ton of verbs that start with ver-. This is partially due to the fact that this prefix is relatively flexible with its meanings. There are several categories into which one can classify verbs with the prefix ver-, but they all have one overarching idea.

The prefix ver- changes the direction of the verb. It doesn’t point it in a particular direction, it simply means that it isn’t in the direction that the verb went prior to the prefix ver- being applied. The actual direction is expressed through the rest of the sentence.

The first category that most people mention is a concept of completing or going away. The verb “laufen” means “to run, walk, or at the very least go on foot”. Generally there is a direction or destination in mind when the “laufen” takes place. When you add ver-, you get “verlaufen”, which translates as “to get lost”. It literally is going somewhere, but you don’t end up where you wanted to go. You could think of it as indicating that something is going to excess or in a bad way.

If you want to point the direction of a verb with ver- in a particular direction, you need to add a bit more info to the sentence to give that context, as the verb and prefix combination on their own can’t do that.

“laufen” is “to run or walk”, but “verlaufen” is “to get lost”.

Ich laufe zum Bahnhof. -
I am running to the train station.

The destination is clear and I purposefully reached the destination.

Ich verlaufe mich zum Bahnhof. -
I lose myself to the train station.

In this sentence “laufen” is not going straight to the train station. The subject is lost or getting lost, but still arrives at the train station even though he got lost or because he got lost.

“hungern” is translated as “to hunger”, but “verhungern” is “to starve”. Literally to hunger to excess.

Du wirst nicht mehr hungern oder dursten. -
You will no longer hunger or thirst.

Ich muss frühstücken, sonst werde ich verhungern. -
I need to eat breakfast, otherwise I will starve.

“jagen” is “to hunt”, but “verjagen” is “to chase away”.

Der Eiskönig jagt den Drachen. -
The ice king hunts the dragon.

Der Drachen verjagt die Schafe. -
The dragon chases away the sheep.

I’ve mentioned “achten” a couple of times now. When you add ver-, you get “to despise”. You “regard” them in the wrong direction.

Mein Hund verachtet Eichhörnchen. -
My dog despises squirrels.

It can also imbue a verb with an attribute by changing a noun or adjective into a verb. “vereinfachen”, for example means “to make simple”, as the word “einfach” means “simple”.

Sollte ich diese Arbeit vereinfachen? -
Should I make this work easier?

You can make things into stone using the verb “versteinern”, which comes from the noun “Stein” or “stone”.

Nach ein paar Millionen Jahren versteinern die Bäume. -
After a few million years, the trees turn to stone (petrify).

You can also do this with slightly less literal verbs like “verkörpern” (to embody), which comes from the noun, “der Körper” (the body).

Diese Schlange verkörpert keine Gefahr. -
This snake represents (embodies) no danger.

As I mentioned earlier, this is the most popular inseparable prefix in the German language. That website I keep mentioning says it makes up 45% of all inseparable verbs, but this is the one that makes me question their numbers, as I found fewer verbs with ver- than er-. 

For a full list of verbs with any of these inseparable prefixes, click here.

zer-

This prefix is used to destroy things or break them into pieces. I mean that literally. Words like “stören” (to bother, disturb) change into “zerstören” (to destroy). Literally that would be to bother or disturb to pieces. Here is an example.

Bitte, stör mich nicht, während ich arbeite. -
Please, don’t disturb me while I am working.

Ein Feuer hat den Wald zerstört. -
A fire destroyed the forest.

It doesn’t have to be this drastic, however, as the verb “teilen” means “to divide”, but when zer- is added it becomes “zerteilen” (to cut up/off).

Seine Mutter teilt den Kuchen. -
His mother divides (shares) the cake.

Die Mauer hat Berliner 28 Jahre zerteilt. -
The wall cut the Berliners off for 28 years.

Of course there are a lot of terrible verbs in this list, because they all mean to destroy something by means of the main part of the verb. For example:

Der Hund hat mich gebissen. -
The dog bit me.

Das Schnabeltier hat meinen Finger zerbissen. -
The platypus chewed up my finger.

Der Junge pflückt ein paar Blumen. -
The boy picks a few flowers.

Der Junge zerpflückt ein paar Blumen. -
The boy picks a few flowers apart.

Now that you have reached the end of the article, it is time to choose your next adventure. Click one of the links below and learn more German. 

Download Herr Antrim's full list of inseparable prefixed verbs in German as a PDf. 

That website I mentioned several times in this article that claims to know which prefixes are used most often down to the percentage of verbs that use them. 

Rules for Separable Prefixes 

The Most Common Separable Prefixes Explained

Separable Prefixes You Never Knew Existed