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10. Verb Combinations

After the recent German spelling reforms, many verbs that had been previously been used as separable prefixes to form compounds with other verbs are now written as separate words in the infinitive. This spelling change affects commonly used combinations such as spazieren gehen (to go for a walk), kennen lernen (to get to know), stehen bleiben (to stop), sitzen bleiben (to remain seated), liegen lassen (to leave something lying), stecken lassen (to leave something stuck).

There is however flexibility to write some of these combinations as one word when their meaning is figurative and not literal:

  • liegen lassen is now written in the infinitive as two words if it literally means "to leave something lying", but it can be written as one word in the infinitive (liegenlassen) if it is used to translate "to forget something".
  • sitzen bleiben must now be written in the infinitive as two words if it means "to remain seated", but as one word in the infinitive (sitzenbleiben) if it means "to have to repeat a year at school".
  • stehen bleiben is written in the infinitive as two words if it means "to remain standing", but can be used as one word in the infinitive (stehenbleiben) if used figuratively to describe a watch or clock that has stopped.

These orthographical changes do not affect the way that the present tense of such combinations is written in main clauses. Now as before, the first verb of the compound always remains in the infinitive, whereas the second verb is the one that takes present tense verb endings. This verb comes before the other in a main clause.

Singular  
ich gehe spazieren I go for a walk
du gehst spazieren
Sie gehen spazieren
You go for a walk
(informal/formal) 
er/sie/es geht spazieren He/she/it goes for a walk
Plural  
wir gehen spazieren We go for a walk
ihr geht spazieren
Sie gehen spazieren
You go for a walk
(informal/formal) 
sie gehen spazieren They go for a walk


Singular  
ich lerne kennen I get to know
du lernst kennen
Sie lernen kennen
You get to know
(informal/formal) 
er/sie/es lernt kennen He/she/it gets to know
Plural  
wir lernen kennen We get to know
ihr lernt kennen
Sie lernen kennen
You get to know
(informal/formal) 
sie lernen kennen They get to know



Word order in the present tense
The verb that remains in the infinitive is the one that takes the final position in a clause. It is thus separated from the conjugated verb in a main clause. Look at the following examples:

  • Ihr lernt einander kennen.
    (You get to know each other.)
  • Gehst du heute Nachmittag spazieren?
    (Are you going for a walk this afternoon?)
  • Die Katze bleibt einfach dort stehen.
    (The cat just stands there.)
  • Meine Frau lässt den Schlüssel stecken.
    (My wife leaves the key in the lock.)

But in a subordinate clause, the finite verb rejoins the infinitive in the final position, but this time it follows the infinitive. After the spelling reforms, the combination of verb is now no longer written as one word in a subordinate clause:

  • Wer weiß, ob ihr euch einmal näher kennen lernt?
    (Who knows whether you will get to know each other better?)
  • Es freut mich sehr, dass du heute Nachmittag spazieren gehst.
    (I'm very pleased that you are going for a walk this afternoon.)
  • Keiner weiß genau, warum die Katze einfach dort stehen bleibt.
    (No-one knows for sure why the cat just stands there.)
  • Es ärgert mich, dass meine Frau den Schlüssel stecken lässt.
    (It annoys me that my wife leaves the key in the lock.)

If some of these verbs are used in a figurative rather than a literal sense however, then they may be able to be written as one word when they occur at the end of subordinate clauses.

  • Wir sind stolz auf unseren Sohn, obwohl er auf dem Gymnasium wahrscheinlich sitzen bleibt / sitzenbleibt.
    (We're proud of our son, although he'll probably have to repeat a year at grammar school.)
  • Erklären Sie mir, warum diese Uhr immer stehen bleibt / stehenbleibt.
    (Please explain to me why this watch always stops.)

Weiter!German Present Tense: Reflexive Verbs


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