German compound verbs

Main Verb
to catch	fangen
to fetch	holen
to come	kommen
to let; to leave	lassen
to lend, borrow	leihen
to do; to make	machen
to take	nehmen

Compound Verb
to begin	anfangen
to pick up	abholen
to depend; to arrive	ankommen
to leave	verlassen
to lend, borrow	ausleihen
to switch on	anmachen
to lose weight to do; undertake to gain weight	abnehmen unternehmen zunehmen

The gender and plural of compound nouns are determined by the final element of the noun, the declension of a compound verb is determined by the final element. Thus although all the compounds of "sehen" are irregular, they are not listed separately in verb tables as it suffices to learn the endings of "sehen" to be able to decline them all.

Examples in German:

I can't see any black clouds.
Ich sehe keine schwarzen Wolken.

You often watch television.
Du siehst oft fern

Anna watches the talk show.
Anna sieht sich die Talkshow an.

Other types of compound verbs German compound verbs are not only formed by adding prefixes, but also by adding other parts of speech.

to cycle = Rad fahren
to ski = Ski laufen
to go shopping = einkaufen gehen
to go for a walk = spazieren gehen

Although these compound verbs are written as two words, they behave in the same way as verbs with a separable prefix. This means that it is only the second element which declines even if the first element is another verb as with einkaufen gehen and spazieren gehen. It means that, like a separable prefix, the first element is positioned at the end of a German clause.

Examples in German:

Thomas likes cycling.
Thomas fährt gern Rad.

Do you like skiing?
Läufst du gern Ski?

I'm going shopping this afternoon.
Heute Nachmittag gehe ich einkaufen.

We go for a walk every evening.
Wir gehen jeden Abend spazieren.