Separable Complex Verbs (SCVs) consist of a verbal head and a preceding element, which is called a preverb. The preverb is often adjectival (e.g. druuch, ‘dry’).

These verbs are termed ‘separable’ because the verbal head and the preverb become discontinuous in certain syntactical environments, e.g.: hie wädt sien Jeeld kwiet (‘he loses his money’). The preverb is always stressed: KWIETwäide, hie wädt (...) KWIET.

In many cases, a SCV is semantically predictable: the verb druuchsjo (‘to cook something dry’) simply means: to cook something in such a way that it gets dry.

Many Separable Complex Verbs have an intransitive adposition as a first element. This type of SCV is known as particle verbs.

Some Separable Complex Verbs do not contain regular verbal heads.

Separable Complex Verbs should be distinguished from

• prefixed verbs, e.g. uurNIEME ‘to take sth over from sb’ or uurSLO (‘to overlook’), as opposed to UURslo (‘to become warm’). Prefixed verbs are inseparable and the stress is always on the verbal element: uurNIEme, uurSLO. see [1.2.3].
• NV compounds like räidslo (‘to deliberate’). They are inseparable verbs, just like prefixed verbs (e.g. ferFIERE, ‘to transport’), so: iek RÄID slo.
• constructions like Piano spielje (‘to play piano’). The noun Piano is independent here: iek spielje neen Piano, ‘I don’t play piano’. If Piano spielje were an SCV, one would expect: *iek spielje nit Piano, with negation particle nit instead of negative article neen.

The set of ‘intransitive adpositions’ is meant to include not only preposition-like words (e.g. uur- in uuraidje ‘to harrow again’) but also words like wäch (away) and deel (down), which are traditionally considered adverbs.

Both simplex and complex adpositions occur in particle verbs.

Some of the adpositions which are in use as preverb particles, are subject to allomorphy.

In Saterland Frisian, some intransitive adpositions are characterized by an additional schwa, e.g. ape, inne, oane, ute (along with ap, in, oan, uut). These ‘extended’ (German: gedehnte) adpositions only occur in ‘situative’ contexts, i.e. in contexts where there is no change or movement. One could argue that intransitive adpositions are always full words, not particles.

Clear examples are: deer is neen Woater oane (‘there’s no water in it’), ju hät ‘t Ieten ape (‘she has finished her meal’), hie hät ’n Houd ape (‘he has a hat on’), die Skoule is ute (‘school ’s out’). That means that ape-häbe (‘to have finished a meal’) can only refer to a state where something is literally ape (e.g.: ’tIeten is ape, ‘the meal is finished’). This complex verb cannot have a resultative meaning, unlike (e.g.) meebrange (‘to bring along’).

The preverb particles an-, oun- and oane- are all related to the preposition an (‘at’), but they are not interchangeable. Oane is an extended adposition like ape, e.g.: hie hät naan Jikkel oane (‘he has no coat on’). So, oane can only be combined with stative verbs like weze (‘to be’) and häbe (‘to have’).

The preverb an- is semantically very close to the preposition: anklopje means: ‘to nock on the door’ (an ju Dore). The preverb oun- often denotes penetration (e.g. ounboorje, ‘to drill’) or inchoation (e.g. ounfange, ‘to start’).

The particle ien- has a directive meaning (e.g. ienkume ‘to come in, to come home’), unlike inne (‘at home’). The non-extended counterparts of the extended adpositions are truly particles.

The particle mee- is related to the preposition mäd (‘with’), e.g. meebrange (‘to bring along’).

The preverbs wai and wäch are grammaticalized forms of nouns meaning ‘way’ (Saterland Frisian Wai and High/Low German Weg respectively), although they cannot be used interchangeably, as it was shown above.