Die Komposita Compound Nouns in German

1. Die Komposita Compound Nouns in German As in English, German has the capability of building compound nouns. Such nouns are normally spoken and written as one word. The basic German Compound noun consists of two parts. Mark Twain once said: “Some German Words are so long that they have a perspective.”

2. The second element of a compound noun in German is called ,,das Grundwort” or primary word. It determines the gender and plural form of the compound word. In some cases, it also designates the larger set to which the word belongs. die Fahrschule Schuleist das Grundwort Fahrist das Bestimmungswort The First element of a compound noun in German is called ,,das Bestimmungswort” or determining word. It designates the subset of the category defined by the primary word.

3. Compounds nouns can be formed by various types of words. Noun + Noun Adjective + Noun die Groβeltern die Haustür die Jungfrau der Müllwagen Verb + Noun Noun + Adjective die Suchmaschine luftleer der Kaufpreis apfelrund Preposition/Adverb/Particle + Noun Preposition + Verb runterspringen das Jawort rübergehen der Vorort Adjective + Adjective hellgrün dunkelblau

4. When the two words that make up a compound noun in German are both nouns, there often appears a connecting element. (die Fuge) in this case, the connecting element can be predicted.. add an “e” when……the plural of the first noun would add an e. die Hundehütte(der Hund – die Hünde) Dog house das Hundefutter(der Hund – die Hünde) Dog food add an “er” when……the first noun is masculine (der) or neuter (das) and the plural would normally end in er. der Kindergarten(das Kind – die Kinder) playschool

5. add an “n” when……the first noun is feminine (die) and builds plural with en. der Birnenbaum(die Birne – die Birnen) Pear tree add an “s” when……the first noun ends in heit, keit or ung. der Freiheitskämpfer(die Freiheit) Freedom Fighter die Gesundheitspflege(die Gesundheit) Health care

6. When the compound noun does not consist of two nouns, the connecting element (die Fuge) is harder to predict and can take various forms. Sometimes there is no connecting element…. die Handfläche das Gasthaus Guest House Palm of the hand Sometimes it could be an “e”. das Schweinefleisch der Pferdestall Pork Horse stall Sometimes it could be an “n” or “en”. der Kettenraucher das Bauernbrot Chain smoker Farmhouse bread

7. Sometimes it is an “ens”. die Herzensgüte der Friedensvertrag Peace agreement Goodness of the heart Sometimes it could be an “s” or “es”. der Liebeskummer der Glückspilz Love problems Lucky guy As a general rule, it is hard to predict what the connecting element in a compound German word will be and there are often more complex meaning that can be imbedded within a compound German word.

8. For further study, I recommend……. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Wortbildung/Komposita.html http://german.about.com/od/nounsandcases/a/German-Compound-Words.htm