Breakdown of Das Verhalten missfällt mir.
mir
me / to me (dative)
das Verhalten
the behavior
missfallen
to displease
Questions & Answers about Das Verhalten missfällt mir.
How does the prefix miss- change the verb in this sentence?
The prefix miss- works exactly like "dis-" or "mis-" in English to express the opposite or a negative version of an action. It turns gefallen (to please) into missfallen (to displease).
Why is it missfällt and not fällt ... miss?
The prefix miss- is inseparable. Unlike separable prefixes, it stays firmly attached to the front of the verb and never moves to the end of the sentence.
Why does the verb have an umlaut (missfällt instead of missfallt)?
It keeps the same stem vowel change as its root verb fallen (to fall). In the present tense, the a changes to ä for the third-person singular (he/she/it) forms.
Why is the pronoun mir (dative) used here instead of mich (accusative)?
Just like its positive counterpart gefallen, the verb missfallen always takes a dative object. You can think of it as the behavior being displeasing to me.
How would I form the spoken past tense (Perfekt) of this sentence?
You would say Das Verhalten hat mir missfallen. Because miss- is an inseparable prefix, its past participle does not take a ge- at the beginning.
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