Is there a rule for compound nouns?

You have noticed that the compound noun can be written either as a single word, as a word with a hyphen, or as two words. There are no clear rules about this. A good rule of thumb is to write the most common compound nouns as one word, and the others as two words.

What is a compound noun German?

The German language is full of compound nouns. A compound noun involves joining a number of nouns together to create a new word, eg meine Lieblingsfußballmannschaft means ‘my favourite football team’. It includes three different nouns to create one word: Lieblings (favourite) + Fußball (football) + Mannschaft (team)

Why do Germans stick words together?

With plenty of grammatical rules (and exceptions) to get to grips with, German is known for being a challenging and complex language. That said, German linguists can also be surprised and delighted by the language. One example is compound nouns, where two words have simply been stuck together to create a new one.

Why does German have so many compound words?

It’s because they are nouns made up of more than one word, or what are known as compound nouns, for example, the German word Bundesverfassungsgericht, meaning ‘Federal Constitutional Court’, is made up of three words: Bundes, the genitive of Bund, meaning ‘federal’

Is sister in law a compound noun?

But when a compound noun is formed with -in-law, such as brother-in-law, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, etc., its plural is formed by making the first part of the compound plural, and leaving -in-law unchanged:brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, mothers-in-law.

Why does German have compound words?

Compound Words, Just Separated Words The reason why Germans use this words is, because it is not allowed in the German language to have these noun clusters. It basically means that you are not allowed to describe nouns with other nouns in the German language.

What are the rules of compound words in German?

Important German Compound Rules. It is the last word that determines the word type. For example: über -> preposition, reden->verb. überreden = verb (to persuade) The last noun of the compound word determines its gender. For example. die Kinder + das Buch = das Kinderbuch (the children’s book)

Why are German compound nouns so long?

German is notorious for its long words, and compound nouns are partially to blame for that. Because the German language does not set a limit on how many nouns you can combine together, and the language generally has a tendency to join them into one word, we end up with a lot of words that seem ridiculously long to speakers of other languages.

How do you write determinative compounds in German?

Learn how to write and spell properly in German here. Determinative compounds, or compounds that have a main word that is qualified by others, can be made up of: Noun + noun (“Flugzeug” = “der Flug” + “das Zeug” = the flying thing = aeroplane)

What are compound nouns?

While the final element of a compound noun must be a noun, the first element an be an adjective, an adverb, a verb or verb stem, or a preposition. Here are some examples of German compound nouns.