GRMN 102
Kapitel 5
 
 

Compound Nouns in German






German allows for two or more words to be put together to form a new word.
These are called "compound nouns."

                       Beispiel:        (die) Donaudampfschifffahrtskapitänsgesellschaft
 

Often, you are able to figure out the meaning of a word by breaking it down into its constitutive parts.

                        (die) Donau = Danube (the river)
                        (die) Dampfschifffahrt = steam navigation
                        (der) Kapitän = captain
                        (die) Gesellschaft = society

                         (die) Donauschifffahrtskapitänsgesellschaft  =  the society of captains of
                                                                                              steamship companies on the Danube


Try dividing up the compound nouns from the Porträt on S. 156:
 

                        Menschenrechte         =     Menschen         +     Rechte             =   human rights
 
 

                        Konzentrationslager   =                             +                            =
 

                        Weltkrieg                  =                             +                            =
 

                        Messestadt                =                             +                            =
 

                        Industriemesse           =                            +                            =
 

                        Weltausstellung          =                            +                            =
 
 



 

The only hard and fast rule you must remember with compound nouns is that it is the last word in the compound noun that governs the gender and the plural of the entire word.
 

            Guess at the genders and meanings of the following nouns!

                        _____         Badehose

                                       Briefpapier

                                       Skibrille

                                       Blumenvase

                                       Wörterbuch

                                       Kaffeemaschine