When is a verb separable?

1. What is a separable verb?

A separable verb (scheidbaar werkwoord) is a combination of a verb and a preposition. Both words can also be used on its own, but together they get a new meaning.

verb
leggen

preposition
uit

= separable verb
uitleggen

There are some separable verbs with another word, such as an adjective (schoonmaken) or a noun (paardrijden). These aren’t many.

2. For example: separable verbs with ‘geven‘

opgeven (ik geef op) to give up	uitgeven (ik geef uit) to publish	afgeven (ik geef af) to dispose
overgeven (ik geef over) to throw up	meegeven (ik geef mee) to give along with toegeven (ik geef toe) to admit weggeven (ik geef weg) to give away	teruggeven (ik geef terug) to give back aangeven (ik geef aan) to pass, to report doorgeven (ik geef door) to pass on

opgeven (ik geef op) to give up	uitgeven (ik geef uit) to publish
afgeven (ik geef af) to dispose	overgeven (ik geef over) to throw up
meegeven (ik geef mee) to give along with toegeven (ik geef toe) to admit weggeven (ik geef weg) to give away	teruggeven (ik geef terug) to give back aangeven (ik geef aan) to pass, to report doorgeven (ik geef door) to pass on

3. How do we conjugate separable verbs?

Exactly like normal verbs. You only have to know where to put the preposition.

infinitive

uitleggen

Kan je dit uitleggen?
Ik zal straks terugkomen.

present and past simple

ik leg uit

Ik leg alles drie keer uit.
Wanneer kwam je terug?

The preposition comes at the end of the sentence.

present continuous

ik heb uitgelegd

Ik heb dit al drie keer uitgelegd!
Sandra is gisteren teruggekomen.

in a subclause

omdat ik uitleg

Hij wil dat ik alles uitleg.
Dat is omdat ze straks terugkomt.

The word order with a seperable verb

With a perfect form:

With a seperable infinitive - the first way:

With a seperable infinitive - the second way:

Both ways are correct. The first is more common in Belgium, the second more in the Netherlands.

4. Which verbs are separable and which aren’t?

Not all verbs with two parts are separable.
(↓ examples ↓)
(↑ hide the examples ↑)

The preposition is often a good indication to know whether a verb is separable or not: here you can see which part of the verbs with a certain preposition is separable.

	op	0% 100%
	uit	0% 100%
	af	0% 100%
	in	0% 100%
	mee	0% 100%
	toe	0% 100%
	weg	0% 100%
	terug	0% 100%
	na	0% 100%
	vast	0% 100%
	bij	0% 100%
	neer	0% 100%
	binnen	0% 100%
	samen	0% 100%
	tegen	0% 100%
	rond	0% 100%
	aan	3% 97%
	door	15% 85%
	voor	23% 77%
	om	31% 69%
	achter	31% 69%
	over	61% 39%
	vol	71% 29%
	mis	78% 22%
	onder	95% 5%
	ver	100% 0%
	ont*	100% 0%
	her*	100% 0%
the rest (7%)		15% 85%
the rest (3%)		20% 80%

*) 'ont' and 'her' don’t belong here, as 'ont' and 'her' don’t exist as separate words.

How often do you see these words? The bigger the word in this word cloud, the more often you’ll see this type separable (of non-separable) verb.

All statistics are based of the frequency of the words in the Corpus of Spoken Dutch (CGN).

The stress

By separable verbs, the preposition is stressed:

overstappen: ik stap over, wij stappen over, ik ben overgestapt

By non-separable verbs, the verb itself is stressed:

ondertekenen: ik onderteken, wij ondertekenen, ik heb ondertekend

Other prepositions

Almost all these prepositions are prepositions of position or movement. Exception: mee (met), los, samen, stil and vrij.

The other prepositions can never form a separable verb. These are for example van, dankzij, mits, namens, ondanks, per, richting, sinds, tijdens, volgens, wegens and zonder.

5. In detail: the “yellow” verbs