Heute habe ich etwas Besonderes vor.
Today I’ve got something special planned.See 46.3 (p. 122) for etwas.
Werfen Sie die Verpackung bitte nicht weg!
Please don’t throw the packaging away.Die Banken machen um zwölf zu.
The banks close at twelve.Er kommt in einer Stunde zurück.
He is coming back in an hour.Wir haben unser ganzes Geld zusammengelegt.
We pooled all our money.Virtually any preposition can become a verbal prefix and will be separable if the literal
meaning of the preposition features in the meaning of the verb as a whole. For
example, entgegen means ‘in the opposite direction’ and entgegenkommen is a
separable verb meaning ‘to come towards’:Sie ist mir entgegengekommen.
She came towards me.See 18.2–3 (p. 24), 19.4–5 (pp. 27–8) and 20.7 (p. 32) on prepositions.
(e) Some separable verbs obviously began as verb + noun combinations:Die Konferenz findet in Buenos Aires statt.
The conference is taking place in Buenos Aires.Note also the tendency for some verb + noun combinations to behave like separable
verbs in some respects:Der Teppich fängt bald Feuer.
The carpet will catch fire soon.Ich fahre jeden Tag Auto.
I drive (a car) every day.However, these phrases are always written as two distinct words:Er fängt Feuer. Sie fährt Auto.
It catches fire. She drives.Er fing Feuer. Sie fuhr Auto.
It caught fire. She drove.Er hat Feuer gefangen. Sie ist Auto gefahren.
It caught fire. She has been driving/drove.Er kann Feuer fangen. Sie kann Auto fahren.
It can catch fire. She can drive/go driving.Er begann Feuer zu fangen. Sie begann Auto zu fahren.
It began to catch fire. She began to drive.36
Separable/inseparable