German Grammar 101: Separable Verbs

Today, Tobin surprised me by casually applying a German grammar quirk that brings grown language students to their knees. He completed a separable verb at the end of my sentence (which could’ve been a standalone, but is more to the point the way he completed it).

Me: “Luna leckt Tobin’s Hand”
Tobin: “… ab!”

It translates into “Luna is licking Tobin’s hand”. There is a general verb for licking (lecken) that i used in my sentence. Then there is one specific verb that can be used for animals licking objects, or people licking their plates like animals (ablecken).
The tricky part is that ablecken often gets separated, with the first syllable closing the sentence: leckt […] ab.

I was quite surprised to see Tobin upgrading my simple sentence to the next level – especially since he doesn’t speak in grammatically correct sentences quite yet. His daily chatter is mostly three to five word baby string sentences…