Hey you all! 
I just had a live lesson and our main topic was “Trennbare Verben” which can be a little complicated at first for new learners.
So I looked for some “rules” to get a better understanding of when to “split” verbs in half.
- if both words in the verb can stand alone, or if they can be found in a dictionary, you have a separable Verb.
For example:
“aufstehen” (auf+stehen)
“einkaufen” (ein+kaufen)
But if the word can’t stand alone or if it can’t be found in a dictionary then you can’t split the verb.
For example:
“bereisen” -> “be” alone doesn’t make sense
“beginnen” -> in this case both of the words “be” and “ginnen” don’t make sense alone
“vergessen” -> “ver” alone doesn’t make sense
-
you can focus on the accent on the first part of the verb.
Does the accent fall on the first syllable ?
yes -> you have to split the verb
no -> you can’t split the verb -
it’s easier to learn the exceptions:
be-, -, ent-, er-, ge-, miss-, un-, ver-, zer-
Verbs which have these prefixes can’t be split up.
There are also some prefixes which can be separable and inseparable !
It’s also important to know that the meaning of the verbs change with every prefix!
I hope this helps a little ! If you have any further questions then please feel free to ask !
Maybe some of the other tutors also have some tips or something to add ? 
You can also click on this link, I think this also explains it very well!
“Trennbare Verben” are always tricky, but you’re right if the first part does not have a singular meaning than its part of the word. This is very helpful 
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