Hi! In German, you have basically 3 kinds of prefixes for verbs : -separable (trennbare Präfixe) ; - inseparable (untrennbare Präfixe) ; - those that can be both (choice to be made according to their meaning). You can see a list of prefixes here : http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/sepinsepprefixexpl.html In your example, the verb is ANFANGEN. "An" is a separable prefixe, which means that throughout the conjugation, it will be written in two parts. - er fängt heute um 8.00 Uhr an (present) - sie fingen an zu singen (they started to sing) Exceptions : - infinitive --> wir möchten früher anfangen (we'd like to begin earlier) - nouns made from infinitive (das Anfangen) - past participle, written in one word, but -GE- will come in between --> er hat angefangen (he has started) The place of the separable prefixe may vary a bit depending on emphasis, but that's not important for now :) Have a nice day!