German Separable Verbs with Modals and werden: Word Order
By Michael McGettrickUpdated 27 September 2026
, , . Each of these is one verb with a detachable front half, and in a plain present-tense sentence the front half detaches and walks to the end of the clause: (I am calling you). Add a second verb to the sentence, a modal, , or a subordinate clause that already sends its verb to the end, and the rule reverses completely. The two halves stop detaching and travel together as a single infinitive.
This is not a separate exception to memorise for every construction; it follows directly from one fact about German separable verbs: only a conjugated verb sitting in second position (or first, in a question or command) ever splits. Everything else, an infinitive at the end of a clause, a participle in the perfect tense, stays whole. Once that single fact is solid, every pattern below is the same fact showing up in a different sentence shape. This structure is on the AQA GCSE German (8662) specification at Higher tier.
The baseline: split in a simple main clause
Start from the pattern you already know. In an ordinary present-tense main clause, a separable verb sends its prefix all the way to the end:
.- I am calling you..- I get up early..- I am buying bread.
The conjugated part (, , ) sits second, exactly where any German main-clause verb sits, and the prefix (an, , ) closes the clause. This split only happens because the verb is conjugated and in second position. Change either of those two facts, and the split stops happening.
With a modal verb: the whole verb goes to the end
Introduce a modal verb and the separable verb is no longer conjugated; it becomes an infinitive, and an infinitive never splits:
.- I have to call you.will .- I want to get up early..- I cannot go shopping today.
, will and are the conjugated verbs here, sitting second as always. , and sit at the very end, whole, exactly the way sits at the end of will . The prefix has not vanished; it has simply reattached, because there is no longer a conjugated separable verb for it to detach from.
In the future tense: werden takes the conjugated slot
The future tense with works on the same principle, because , not the separable verb, is the one doing the conjugating:
.- I will call you tomorrow..- I will get up early.
sits second, as the conjugated verb always does. and are infinitives again, so they stay whole and travel to the end. English speakers sometimes expect the prefix to peel off here because it did in the present tense, but the present tense was the odd one out: it was the only sentence shape in this whole article where the separable verb itself was the conjugated verb.
In a subordinate clause: the verb group moves together, in order
A clause introduced by , , or similar sends its conjugated verb to the very end, as subordinate clauses do generally. With a plain separable verb, that just means the whole thing, prefix reattached, sits at the end:
Er , er .- He says that he is calling today.
With a modal added, two verb forms both end up at the end of the clause, and the order is infinitive first, then the conjugated modal last of all:
Er , er .- He says that he has to call his mother., will.- I know that I want to get up early.
, not muss anrufen: the infinitive comes first, and the conjugated verb, still obeying the "verb absolutely last" rule of a subordinate clause, closes the sentence behind it.
One table, four shapes
| sentence type | example | what happens to the separable verb |
|---|---|---|
| simple present, main clause | . | splits; prefix goes to the end |
| with a modal | . | stays whole, as an infinitive |
| future with | . | stays whole, as an infinitive |
| subordinate clause + modal | | stays whole, then the modal follows |
Read down the "what happens" column and there is really only one rule at work: the split is something that only happens to a conjugated main-clause verb. Every other shape keeps the verb in one piece.
Try the same four shapes with a second verb, aufräumen (to tidy up), and the pattern repeats exactly:
.- I am tidying my room. (splits)aufräumen.- I am supposed to tidy my room. (whole, after a modal)aufräumen.- I will tidy my room. (whole, future), aufräumen .- My mother says that I am supposed to tidy my room. (whole, then the modal, in a subordinate clause)
Running through a second verb like this is a good way to test whether you have internalised the rule rather than just memorised one example: if you can build all four shapes for aufräumen without looking back at , the pattern has actually stuck.
The perfect tense: whole again, with -ge- inside
The perfect tense fits the same pattern, though the detail is slightly different because it involves a participle rather than an infinitive. The prefix reunites with the stem, and the participle marker -ge- goes between the two, not in front of the whole word:
->:.- I called you.->:.- I got up early.
Once again, the separable verb is not the conjugated verb of the sentence ( and are), so it does not split; it simply takes its participle form as a single unit at the end.
Inseparable prefixes never split at all
Not every verb that looks like it has a prefix behaves this way. A small set of prefixes, be-, ver-, er-, ent-, emp-, ge- and zer-, are always inseparable: they stay glued to the stem in every tense, in every clause type, with no splitting rule to worry about in the first place.
(to visit):.- I am visiting my grandma. (never ich suche meine Oma be)(to understand):.- I don't understand that.(to explain):?- Can you explain that?
Because these prefixes never detach, everything in this article about modals, , and subordinate clauses is simpler for them: the verb behaves exactly like any ordinary verb, because there was never a split to lose in the first place. The practical value of knowing the split-versus-inseparable distinction is that it tells you, the moment you meet a new prefixed verb, whether word order is even a question you need to ask about it.
A handful of prefixes, including -, -, um- and -, can go either way depending on the verb, with a shift in meaning to match: meaning to translate is inseparable ( Text), while meaning to ferry across a river is separable ( Fährmann , The ferryman takes us across). These are worth learning verb by verb rather than by any general rule, but recognising that the ambiguity exists stops you assuming every prefix behaves the same way.
Mistakes English speakers make
Splitting the verb after a modal. ich rufe dich muss an tries to apply the simple-sentence rule to a sentence that has already changed shape. Once a modal appears, the separable verb becomes an infinitive and stops splitting.
Splitting the verb in the future tense. ich werde dich rufe an makes the same mistake with . The conjugated verb of a -sentence is itself; the separable verb is only ever an infinitive here.
Putting the modal before the infinitive in a subordinate clause. weil ich dich muss anrufen reverses the order German actually uses. The infinitive comes first, the conjugated modal comes last: .
Adding -ge- in front of the whole verb in the perfect tense. geanrufen is not a word; the participle marker goes inside the verb, between the prefix and the stem: .
Assuming every prefixed verb splits. and never split at all, in any tense, because be- and ver- are inseparable prefixes. Checking which kind of prefix a new verb has, before assuming it behaves like , saves a great deal of guesswork later.
What to do next
Practise the same handful of separable verbs, , , , aufräumen, across all four shapes in this article: split in the present, whole after a modal, whole in the future, whole (then followed by the modal) in a clause. Saying the same verb four different ways in one sitting is what makes the underlying rule, conjugated verbs split, everything else stays whole, click into place rather than staying four separate things to remember. The zu + infinitive article covers the fifth shape, where slots inside the verb itself, and the German course drills separable verbs across all of these patterns once the modal verbs and the future tense are both in place.