Editing German language (section)

===Verb inflection===
{{Main|German verbs}}

The inflection of standard German verbs includes:
* Two main [[Grammatical conjugation|conjugation]] classes: [[Germanic weak verb|weak]] and [[Germanic strong verb|strong]] (as in English). Additionally, there is a third class, known as mixed verbs, whose conjugation combines features of both the strong and weak patterns.
* Three [[grammatical person|persons]]: first, second and third.
* Two [[grammatical number|numbers]]: singular and plural.
* Three [[grammatical mood|moods]]: [[realis mood|indicative]], [[imperative mood|imperative]] and [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]] (in addition to [[infinitive]]).
* Two [[voice (grammar)|voices]]: active and passive. The passive voice uses auxiliary verbs and is divisible into static and dynamic. Static forms show a constant state and use the verb ''to be'' (sein). Dynamic forms show an action and use the verb ''to become'' (werden).
* Two [[grammatical tense|tenses]] without auxiliary verbs ([[present tense|present]] and [[preterite]]) and four tenses constructed with auxiliary verbs ([[perfect (grammar)|perfect]], [[pluperfect]], [[future tense|future]] and [[future perfect]]).
* The distinction between [[grammatical aspect]]s is rendered by combined use of the subjunctive or preterite marking so the plain indicative voice uses neither of those two markers; the subjunctive by itself often conveys reported speech; subjunctive plus preterite marks the conditional state; and the preterite alone shows either plain indicative (in the past), or functions as a (literal) alternative for either reported speech or the conditional state of the verb, when necessary for clarity.
* The distinction between perfect and [[continuous and progressive aspects|progressive aspect]] is and has, at every stage of development, been a productive category of the older language and in nearly all documented dialects, but strangely enough it is now rigorously excluded from written usage in its present normalised form.
* Disambiguation of completed vs. uncompleted forms is widely observed and regularly generated by common prefixes (''{{Wikt-lang|de|blicken}}'' [to look], ''{{Wikt-lang|de|erblicken}}'' [to see&nbsp;– unrelated form: {{Wikt-lang|de|sehen}}]).

====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".