Editing German language (section)

====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 '''{{lang|de|zer-}}''' refers to destruction, as in {{lang|de|'''zer'''reißen}} (to tear apart), {{lang|de|'''zer'''brechen}} (to break apart), {{lang|de|'''zer'''schneiden}} (to cut apart). Other prefixes have only the vaguest meaning in themselves; '''{{lang|de|ver-}}''' is found in a number of verbs with a large variety of meanings, as in {{lang|de|'''ver'''suchen}} (to try) from {{lang|de|suchen}} (to seek), {{lang|de|'''ver'''nehmen}} (to interrogate) from {{lang|de|nehmen}} (to take), {{lang|de|'''ver'''teilen}} (to distribute) from {{lang|de|teilen}} (to share), {{lang|de|'''ver'''stehen}} (to understand) from {{lang|de|stehen}} (to stand).

Other examples include the following:
{{lang|de|haften}} (to stick), {{lang|de|'''ver'''haften}} (to detain); {{lang|de|kaufen}} (to buy), {{lang|de|'''ver'''kaufen}} (to sell); {{lang|de|hören}} (to hear), {{lang|de|'''auf'''hören}} (to cease); {{lang|de|fahren}} (to drive), {{lang|de|'''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, {{lang|de|mitgehen}}, meaning "to go along", would be split, giving {{lang|de|Gehen Sie mit?}} (Literal: "Go you with?"; Idiomatic: "Are you going along?").

Indeed, several [[parenthetical referencing|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):
: {{lang|de|Er '''kam''' am Freitagabend nach einem harten Arbeitstag und dem üblichen Ärger, der ihn schon seit Jahren immer wieder an seinem Arbeitsplatz plagt, mit fraglicher Freude auf ein Mahl, das seine Frau ihm, wie er hoffte, bereits aufgetischt hatte, endlich zu Hause '''an'''.}}
A selectively literal translation of this example to illustrate the point might look like this:
: He "came" on Friday evening, after a hard day at work and the usual annoyances that had time and again been troubling him for years now at his workplace, with questionable joy, to a meal which, as he hoped, his wife had already put on the table, finally home "to".