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There is not really an english counterpart to the often used german prefix "ver-", IMO. It has many functions (verbification) & meanings (e.g. verstärken vs. verschollen). Often it doesn't seem to be used like a typical prefix with its own clear meaning at all, like e.g. in-/un- for inversion.

For example:

Es wäre vermessen, sich beim Vermessen zu vermessen

3 different meanings (thx to Hendrik for this nice aphorism)

What rules of thumb exist for interpreting/deriving meaning correctly?

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    DIfficult one. My favorite, with 3 different usages: Es wäre vermessen, sich beim Vermessen zu vermessen. (It would be impudent to make wrong measurements while surveying.)
    – Hendrik Vogt
    Aug 25, 2011 at 13:24
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    Wer sich hier durchbeißen will: Im Grimm steht viel drin, unter anderem, dass "ver" aus 4 verschieden Präfixen entstanden ist.
    – Hendrik Vogt
    Aug 25, 2011 at 13:53
  • @hendrik thx, i have a new bookmark and probably opened pandoras box :)
    – Hauser
    Aug 25, 2011 at 13:57
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    Who wants to read an old book: "Die Vorsilbe ver- und ihre Geschichte" von Max Leopold. Published 1907.openlibrary.org/books/OL7000766M/…
    – splattne
    Aug 25, 2011 at 15:47
  • @splattne how about a kurzfassung ;) I would set up a bounty if i could (there is no button??? do i have to wait?) as this seems really a unique feature of German language and history. Or community wiki?
    – Hauser
    Aug 25, 2011 at 16:07

5 Answers 5

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There is a most conclusive article on the etymology and usage of the prefix "ver-" in the "Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen (nach Pfeifer)":

ver- Präfix bei Verben und zugehörigen Nomina [...].

Die Funktionen von ver- im Nhd. sind vielfältig; vor allem kennzeichnet es ein

  • Beseitigen, Wegschaffen, Aufbrauchen (verrücken, vertreiben, verzehren)
  • Fort-, Zugrundegehen (verdunsten, verklingen, verschwinden)
  • Irreleiten, Fehlgehen (verführen, verwechseln, sich verzählen)
  • Ausdruck der Negation (verbieten, versagen)
  • resultativen Sinn (verbluten, verpacken, vertilgen), dient der
  • Verstärkung (verschließen, versperren)
  • Transitivierung intransitiver Verben (verfolgen, verheiraten, verspotten)
  • Hervorbringen verbaler Ableitungen von Adjektiven und Substantiven (verdeutlichen, vergöttern ‘deutlich, zu einem Gott machen’, verarmen, verholzen ‘arm, zu Holz werden’).

Die für nhd. ver- festzustellende Unterschiedlichkeit der Verwendungsweisen findet sich schon bei vorausgehendem ahd. fir-, far-, mhd. ver- und ähnlich bei asächs. far-, for-, mnd. vor-, mnl. nl. ver-, aengl. for-, fer-, engl. for-; sie erklärt sich aus dem Zusammenfall dreier Präfixe, die noch getrennt, wenn auch mit nicht mehr fest abzugrenzenden Bedeutungen in got. fra- (meist ‘fort-, weg-’), faίr- und faúr- begegnen; zu letzterem vgl. in frühen Texten belegtes anord. for- mit negativem, verschlimmerndem Sinn[...].

According to this, the usage of "ver-" may be used when

  • removing
  • vanishing
  • misleading
  • negating
  • resulting
  • reinforcing

and in

  • transitive formation
  • verbal transformations fo adjectives and nouns

This has it's roots back to merging three similar gothic prefixes fra-, fair-, and faúr-. A similar etymology has the English prefix for- (like in "forbidden").

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  • I cannot see why "versagen" (to fail) means the negation of "sagen" (to say). Maybe the text means one of the elevated meanings of "sagen", such as "not allow", but even so I cannot see the relation. The simplest example of "opposite" (inside "negation" idea, I suppose) is kaufen/verkaufen.
    – Alan Evangelista
    Apr 11, 2019 at 5:39
  • @AlanEvangelista: whenever we deal with a scientific etymological approach such as it was quoted here conclusions are not always obvious, especially not after the meaning of words may have changed over the centuries.
    – Takkat
    Apr 11, 2019 at 16:14
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Another common meaning of the prefix is to indicate that something went wrong.

Some examples from the top of my head:
laufen -> sich verlaufen
haspeln -> sich verhaspeln
scherzen -> es sich mit jdm. verscherzen
gießen -> vergießen

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  • yeah thats the typical cases i head in my head. Imo the origin/meaning would get more clear on words like verringern where i dont see a real prefix function. As there is no pendant in english it seems unique in German.
    – Hauser
    Aug 25, 2011 at 15:44
  • @Hauser: No pendant, like for so many German prefixes. And it's not only "ver" that has these ambiguities. Prefixes often just give a word a completely different meaning, without any clear rule.
    – Hendrik Vogt
    Aug 25, 2011 at 16:02
  • @hendrik how frequent is often. german.stackexchange.com/questions/1511/… yield all different english pendants. So actually the prefix in German often simplifies learning of the language while in Engish you have to learn several different words for fine nuances imo. Dont you agree? ver- just seems to be the exception that proves the rule
    – Hauser
    Aug 25, 2011 at 16:18
  • @Hauser: (I'm not sure what you're saying with your 2nd sentence, the only containing the link). I thought of "be-", "er-" and "ent-", so it's not really so many prefixes. But also supposedly clear cases such as "über-" can act surprisingly, e.g. in "überlegen".
    – Hendrik Vogt
    Aug 25, 2011 at 16:26
  • @hendrik überlegen, entbeinen is a nice metaphor and meaning derivable & conclusive imo, while vernichten, verringern dont really give you any hints to deduce meaning. ver- still seems much more unique to me...splattne linked a whole book above in comment :)
    – Hauser
    Aug 25, 2011 at 16:32
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The "ver" prefix corresponds loosely to "for" in the English (and Scandinavian) languages.

Vergeben: to forgive.

The approximate meaning is "to cause", or "to make".

Verstärken: to make/cause to be strong; verfolgen: to cause to be "followed" (to persecute); verheiraten: to make "married", the act of marrying; vertreiben: to cause to be "driven" (to drive away).

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I'd say a pretty common of the "ver-" prefix is "to increase some property".

  • verstärken: give something more strength (Stärke)
  • verehren: to increase someones glory (Ehre)
  • veredeln: to make something more precious (edel)
  • ...
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  • imo this is the verbification example (Stärke, Ehre, edel). Counter example would be verringern :) Here ver- is not really a prefix as ringern is not derivable?
    – Hauser
    Aug 25, 2011 at 14:21
  • @Hauser: yes, I'm well aware that by far not all "ver-" words match this description. It's just one common use.
    – Joachim Sauer
    Aug 25, 2011 at 14:22
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This is one of the best explanation I could find about how 'ver' is used

ver-

bad, awry English mis-

verachten (despise) verbilden (miseducate) verderben (go bad, spoil) s. verfahren (go astray, get lost) verkommen (go to ruin, become run down) verschlafen (oversleep)

lose, away/out

verdrängen (drive out) verduften (lose its aroma) verlassen (leave, abandon) verlieren (lose)

English for-

verbieten (forbid) vergeben (forgive) vergessen (forget)

To link something together or bind them

verbinden (bandage, link, tie) vergrößern (enlarge) verhaften (arrest) versprechen (promise)

http://german.about.com/od/grammar/fl/Inseparable-German-Verb-Prefixes.htm

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  • verstehen, vertragen, vereinbaren -- that approach is too simplistic.
    – Robert
    Aug 17, 2016 at 23:38

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