section_path: Grammar/Verb inflection/Verb prefixes
section_name: Verb prefixes
paragraph_text: Verb prefixes
  
  The meaning of basic verbs can be expanded and sometimes radically changed through the use of a number of prefixes. Some prefixes have a specific meaning; the prefix zer- refers to destruction, as in zer reißen (to tear apart), zer brechen (to break apart), zer schneiden (to cut apart). Other prefixes have only the vaguest meaning in themselves; ver- is found in a number of verbs with a large variety of meanings, as in ver suchen (to try) from suchen (to seek), ver nehmen (to interrogate) from nehmen (to take), ver teilen (to distribute) from teilen (to share), ver stehen (to understand) from stehen (to stand).
  
  Other examples include the following: haften (to stick), ver haften (to detain); kaufen (to buy), ver kaufen (to sell); hören (to hear), auf hören (to cease); fahren (to drive), er fahren (to experience).
  
  Many German verbs have a separable prefix, often with an adverbial function. In finite verb forms, it is split off and moved to the end of the clause and is hence considered by some to be a "resultative particle". For example, mitgehen, meaning "to go along", would be split, giving Gehen Sie mit? (Literal: "Go you with?"; Idiomatic: "Are you going along?").
  
  Indeed, several parenthetical clauses may occur between the prefix of a finite verb and its complement (ankommen = to arrive, er kam an = he arrived, er ist angekommen = he has arrived):
  
  A selectively literal translation of this example to illustrate the point might look like this: