Like many other languages, German uses the Latin alphabet to which adds additional characters. For example, the letter
ß (Eszett) and the dieresis in the vowels
ä,
ö, and
ü. Contrary to what might seem, German follows a logical structure that makes learning much easier. Joining several words to form new ones is a key feature of German. In this way, once you have a small base you will be able to understand a large part of the vocabulary.
Prefix combinations with some basic verbs that are studied at the beginning of your German course, as established by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
- Examples: Auf-, ab-, aus-, be-, durch-, ein-, ent-, er-,hin-, mit-, nach-, über-, um-, unter-, ver-, vorbei-, vor-, weg-, zer-, zu-, zurück-
Combining these prefixes with the verbs could give new meanings them. In the following table some examples of the verbs fahren, gehen, lassen, sehen could be found:
gehen | fahren | lassen | sehen |
---|
(hin)aufgehen | (hin)auffahren | (hin)auflassen | (hin)aufsehen |
(hin)abgehen | (hin)abfahren | (hin)ablassen | (hin)absehen |
(hin)ausgehen | (hin)ausfahren | (hin)auslassen | (hin)aussehen |
begehen | befahren | belassen | besehen |
durchgehen | durchfahren | durchlassen | durchsehen |
(hin)eingehen | (hin)einfahren | (hin)einlassen | (hin)einsehen |
entgehen | entfahren | entlassen | [entsehen] |
ergehen | erfahren | erlassen | ersehen |
losgehen | losfahren | loslassen | [lossehen] |
mitgehen | mitfahren | mitlassen | mitsehen |
nachgehen | nachfahren | nachlassen | nachsehen |
niedergehen | niederfahren | niederlassen | niedersehen |
As you can imagine, this list is not complete but serves as an example to understand how the general rule applies. When studying German, the first thing to do is to understand the use of prefixes, and we recommend the following:
- First step: Learn some verbs that are important in everyday use.
- Second step: Combine those verbs you have learned with the prefixes listed above. You can make a vocabulary list and translate it into English.
The list below includes some verbs that could be modified by the German prefixes:
German Prefix | Translation | Examples | Reciprocal Prefix |
auf | upwards, forwards | Aufgehen, aufstehen, auflehnen, auflassen | ab |
ab | backwards, facing downwards | Ablassen, abfallen, absetzen, abfahren | auf |
aus | from inside to outside | Auszahlen, aushalten, auslassen, aussetzen | ein |
be | from (perspective from the outside) | Beladen, besetzen, bezahlen | ent |
durch | from (perspective from the outside) | Durchlesen, durchsetzen, durchfallen, durchhalten | |
ein | from outside to inside | Einfallen, einsetzen, einstellen | aus |
ent | from the inside | Entlassen, entgehen, entsenden | be |
er | refers to an object (passive function) | Erleben, ersetzen, erfahren, erhalten | |
hin | below (action of an object) | Hinfallen, hingehen, hinsehen | weg |
mit | with (related to an object and an activity) | Mitnehmen, mitfahren, mitgehen, mitmischen | |
nach | according to | Nachgehen, nachsehen, nachlesen | vor |
über | about | Überschreiten, überlisten, überwinden, übersehen | unter |
um | around | Umziehen, umsehen, umfallen, umzingeln | |
unter | under | Unterwerfen, unterwandern, untergehen | über |
vorbei | describes a change of location of the object due to the action of the verb | Vorbeifahren, vorbeilaufen, vorbeigehen, vorbeiziehen | |
vor | activity prior to that described | Vorgehen, vorziehen, vorsehen | |
weg | moving away from the object | Weggehen, wegnehmen, wegsehen, weglassen | hin |
zer | action of breaking, collapsing, destroying something | Zerfallen, zersetzen, zermalmen, zerlassen | |
zu | to | Zufallen, zusehen, zulassen, zugehen | |
zurück | back to, describes an activity to return to a previous state | Zurückgehen, zurücksetzen, zurückfallen, zurücklegen | |
The long German words are logically build
According to the newspaper
Die Welt, the German language has more than 5.3 million words in common use. Therefore, it can be safely said that the shortage of expressions is not one of the problems of this language. In fact, many students who are beginners learning German encounter a broad vocabulary that may be scary at first glance.
In reality, there is no reason to be scared. It is certain that at the beginning you will have to learn the basic words, and then learn how to combine them to form new ones. It will be also possible that some of them might not be included in the dictionaries. This is because the German language is mainly based on compound words. The formation of these words can be divided into two groups: by
composition or by
derivation.A noun can be formed by the junction of:
- Substantive + Substantive
- Adjective + Substantive
- Verb + Substantive
- Preposition + Substantive
For instance as an example, taking the words
Sprache (language) and
Reise (travel). If we combine them, the result will be
Sprachreise (language travel). Taking this term to another context, the word
Sprachreiseveranstalter (language courses abroad agency) could be formed. We could even continue adding other words and form
Sprachreiseveranstalterfachverband (Language courses commercial organization). the gender of the compound word is determined by the last word to the right. In the case of
Sprachreiseveranstalter, the last word is
Veranstalter which is masculine, so the compound word will also have masculine gender.
Although, the 5.3 million German words mentioned above may seem many, in reality, most of them are simply combinations. Thus, during your German course, you will be able to learn how to combine vocabulary and create new long words. The teachers of our German schools will always be open to help you and give you additional examples and explanations.