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5

There are more examples, but they are of the same type (etymologically unrelated, as Thorsten Dittmar explained for fehlen/empfehlen): (zurück)weichen (ich wich (zurück)) vs. einweichen (ich weichte ein) (er)ringen (ich (er)rang) vs. beringen (ich beringte) (er)schallen (es (er)scholl) vs. beschallen (ich beschallte) There are also verbs that follow ...


7

fehlen and empfehlen do not derive from the same base (fehlen). The verb fehlen derives from the old form vælen or vēlen, which means to miss (a target). Empfehlen on the other hand derives from the verb fel(a)han, which means to sow or to entrust. finden and empfinden do derive from finden, that's why they share the same conjugation.


0

As we may have other questions on that topic. There is a quite concise online source for the concepts of German prefixation available in German, and (partly) translated to English: Canoo Net: Präfigierung Canoo Net: Suffigierung


1

there is a difference, and you cant say its general this (...) way. for example sprechen means talking. but versprechen means promise or to misspeak you have to learn them, there isnt a general rule i guess



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