QUICK TIP German: "holen" vs "abholen"

With this post, we are starting a Quick Tip series with which to explain certain aspects of the languages we cover

Quick TIP: holen - TO GET, to fetch

• Er holt die Zeitung. [He's getting the paper.]
**German simple present tense often translates into English "progressive" (is getting).

Quick TIP: abholen - TO GET, to pick up

• Er holt mich später ab. [He's going to pick me up later.]
**ab- is a "separable prefix. In a simple sentence, "ab" goes at the end.

• Toll, dass du mich abholst. [Great, that you are picking me up.]
**After a conjunction: "dass" etc., the full verb goes at the end.

CONJUGATION of abholen

• ich hole ab - I pick up
• du holst ab - you pick up (familiar)
• er, sie, es holt ab - he, she, it picks up
• wir holen ab - we pick up
• ihr holt ab - you (all) pick up
• sie holen ab - they pick up
• Sie holen ab - you pick up (formal)

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