Wir stücken früh
So, I apparently now how to speak German now, at least a bit. Finished the first course this week, passed the final, did quite well aside from the fact I thought that “frühstücken” (to breakfast) was separable (“Ich stücke heute nicht früh.") which it isn’t (“Ich frühstücke heute nicht.") This means “I don’t eat breakfast today,” which, depending on your definition of “breakfast” and what time of day it is right now, may or may not actually be true.
I wasn't the only person to make this mistake, as the general rule is verb prefixes are separable if they are themselves German words, which "früh" ("early") clearly is. After some discussion we've decided either 1. that we're going to avoid "frühstücken" as a verb entirely ("Heute habe ich das Frühstück nicht gegessen") or 2. be cocky beginning-German students and take back "wir stücken früh". Languages, after all, are changed only by single coinages by single innovators, and if the English loanverb "downloaden" ("ich loade etwas down") is separable, then dammit, so is frühstücken.
