The Art of Grammar

Separable Verbs   In German, prefixes can be added to the start of  a verb,  in order to  change the verb’s meaning. These verbs  can  have inseparable prefixes, where the  prefix stays attached to the verb in all cases, or separable prefixes, where the prefix moves to the end of the sentence or phrase in some cases.    Present Tense   For  example,   in the sentence   ‘ Ich   sehe  sehr gut  aus ’    Aussehen is the verb, and since the sentence is in present tense, the prefix ‘aus’ is  moved to the very end of the sentence.   Another example is   ‘ Ich  trete   einem  Klub  bei ’   In this sentence ,  b e i treten  is the verb, and as it is in present tense, the prefix is  sent to the end of the sentence.    Past Perfect   In past perfect tense,  the prefix stays at the beginning of the verb, and ‘ge’ is added between the prefix and the verb   For example,   ‘ Ich habe  sehr gut aus ge sehen   In this sentance,  aussehen is