Diplomacy

One verb on this list breaks a rule most learners believe they have mastered. Abberufen, to recall an envoy, is separable: in a main clause the prefix goes to the end — Die Regierung berief ihren Botschafter ab — and in an infinitive the zu slips inside, um ihn abzuberufen. By the usual pattern the participle should therefore carry ge- in the middle, as abholen gives abgeholt. It does not. The verb underneath is berufen, and a verb beginning with the unstressed prefix be- never takes ge-; putting ab in front of it changes nothing. So the participle is abberufen, identical to the infinitive: Der Botschafter wurde abberufen. Every verb built this way behaves alike — anerkennen gives anerkannt, vorbereiten gives vorbereitet — and in diplomatic reporting, where recalls and recognitions are the ordinary news, the pattern turns up in nearly every paragraph.