In German language, there are verbs that we make by adding prefixes to the other verb.

For example, we know that there is a verb stehen (stand). We can also make a verb that means stand up - aufstehen. We got it by adding a prefix auf- to the verb stehen.

We know how to conjugate the verb stehen, but we wonder is the conjugation for aufstehen done the same way.

For example, it would be Ich stehe (I stand). Would we just say Ich aufstehe (I stand up)?

Turns out that it depends of the prefix that we added to verb.

There are two groups of prefixes:

1. prefixes inseparable of verb (be, ver, er, ent, emp, miss)
2. prefixes separable of verb (auf, an, ab, aus, ein, mit, zu)

I just mentioned some of the most common prefixes of each group, you will when you learn new words remember some of the other prefixes, but these are good for the beginning.

So, let's now answer the question about conjugation. We will consider two cases - present and past tense.

Present tense

For verbs that are made by adding prefixes from the first group (inseparable prefixes), conjugation goes the same way.

Ich stehe. ------ I stand

There is also a verb verstehen (we added prefix ver- from the first group). The conjugation would stay the same:

Ich verstehe. ------- I understand.

The example that we had in the beginning was with the verb aufstehen. We see that it is stehen + prefix auf- from the second group (separable one). So, the conjugation in this case goes differently:

Ich stehe. ----- I stand.

Ich stehe auf. ------ I stand up.

We separate the prefix that we added and it goes to the end of the sentence. Here we had an easy example with no other words in the sentence between, but if we had something like:

Ich stehe früh auf. ------ I get up early. (this verb can be used in meaning get up, as well as stand up)

We see that the prefix auf goes to the end of whole sentence.

Past tense

Ich habe gestanden. -------- I stood.

Ich habe verstanden. --------- I understood.

Ich habe aufgestanden. ---------- I stood up.

In the case of the verb with inseparable prefix, we don't have ge- that goes in participle of original verb, we have the prefix of the verb instead of it. It's verstanden instead of gestanden.

In the case of the verb with separable prefix, we have the structure prefix + participle of original verb. It's auf + gestanden.

So, to summarize, the rule is:

1. If we have a prefix that is inseparable, the conjugation for present tense goes the same way as it would for the original verb, just with that prefix added. For past tense, we just add prefix instead of ge- in participle of original verb.
2. If we have a prefix that is separable, the conjugation changes. For present the prefix goes to the end of the sentence. For past tense, the participle looks like prefix + participle for the original verb.