What's good to know
The verb-noun connections make no sense at all. While you'll also find such combinations also in English and a couple of other languages, there is no logic at all when it comes to the question WHY do I have to use e.g. "stellen" with "Frage"?
That sounds worse than it is because if there's no logic, there's nothing to understand and therefore the solution is a simple one: You need to learn those by heart. But only to a very limited extent because you do not really have to use many of those verb-noun connections. Not even in a B2 exam. Therefore you mainly need to be able to recognize some of them. A few examples. A very common and easy to understand verb-noun connection is
1. Darf ich dir eine Frage stellen? | May I pose (or: ask) you a question?
"stellen" here doesn't mean anything! You can not understand the sentence if you translate "stellen". Well, in this case it might still somehow be possible to make some sense of "May I place you a question?" but that's a rare exception. YOU on the other hand better use a simpler construction with only a verb. And what verb do you associate with "Frage" (=question)? Of course "fragen" (=to ask). As simple as that. Take a look at the next example. Do you remember the simple structure from the video?
2. Er übte Kritik an Ihrem Werk. | He offered his criticism towards her work.
Unfortunately at times you'll need to be a bit more creative as there's no fitting verb like e.g in the example from the video:
3. Darf ich Ihnen Gesellschaft leisten? | May I keep you company, Sir?
There is no verb "gesellschaften" so we need a workaround. While there are often alternative and simpler constructions like e.g. "Darf ich mich zu Ihnen gesellen?" or "Darf ich mich dazu setzen?", you might struggle to find them or to pick the right alternative out of several alternatives that are being suggested to you.
Therefore it might be best for you to learn a couple of these rather rare verb-noun connections by heart despite my initial advice not to bother too much with them. I'll provide you with 30 not too obvious verb-noun connections in the exercise sections of this lesson.
Beware of false friends
Unfortunately there are also a few Decepticons among the otherwise quite honest crowd of Transformers. Those look like they are easy to transform into simple structures, yet they have quite a different meaning. They are however still somewhat related to the noun in question as you'll see in the next example:
4. Ich ziehe einen Umzug in Betracht. | I consider moving (house).
The combo in question is "in Betracht ziehen". While there is a verb "betrachten" (=to consider) it would not be used in this sense. The sentence: Ich betrachte einen Umzug. would translate as "I'm observing someone moving in/out."
If you make a mistake with these, they'll be rather funny and you'll quickly learn from the slightly embarrassing moments these might cause. Don't be afraid of such misunderstandings. This would be high level mistakes that will rather earn you admiration than ridicule.
How to memorize them efficiently
Your associations don't have to be perfect as my example in the video above shows. Here it is again as reading always provides a slightly different angle and allows for slower processing:
In the combo "Gesellschaft leisten" we can find the EN words "sell" & "lies" (If you can't see this right away, just listen to "leis.ten" and you should get the association.
Once you got the artificial memory hooks sorted out - no worries, I'll provide you with those for the 30 words in the exercises - all you got to do is to associate them with the meaning of the verb noun combo:
sell + lies (=memory hooks) + to keep company (=meaning of combo)
TIP: Don't worry too much about the prepositions that often come with the verb-noun-combinations for now. They'll come as you practice. You'll have enough to do with memorizing those combinations for now.
You, too, have an imagination
I for example. imagine that I ask someone whether I could keep him company and he instantly starts selling me lies. Make sure to visualize this. And by "visualize" I mean the same process that occurs when I say "close your eyes and think of your mother". Imagine what "lies" look like. Don't give up if you struggle with this. It is possible. Only very (!) few people have aphantasia (https://www.bbc.com/news/health-34039054). You are very unlikely to be among them. BUT it might take you a couple of weeks of repeated effort to get your imagination skill going. Don't give up on it for at least 6 weeks. Your life will change significantly once you'll have mastered this skill.
This topic is covered in: B2-L32