In German, two or more nouns can be combined to create compound nouns. German is full of them!
To form a compound noun, the base noun comes at the end. The preceding nouns provide more information about it. The base noun at the end determines the gender of the whole word.
| Description word | Base word | Compound noun | ||
| der Termin | der Kalender | der Terminkalender | ||
| die Polizei | das Auto | das Polizeiauto | ||
| das Gewitter | die Wolke | die Gewitterwolke | ||
| der Regen | der Schirm | der Regenschirm | ||
| das Auto | der Unfall | der Autounfall | ||
| Description word | Description word | Base word | ||
| die Zeit | die Schleifen | der Experte | ||
| = Compound noun | ||||
| der Zeitschleifenexperte | ||||
| der Kopf | der Schmerz | die Tablette | ||
| = Compound noun | ||||
| die Kopfschmerztablette |
The inserted -s
Many compound words in German are simply composed by stringing the words next to one another. But sometimes an extra sound is inserted between them. Usually an –s is inserted, and sometimes -es, -ens, -n, -er. There are no clear-cut rules about when to use such insertions and when not to use them.
| Description word | Base word | Compound noun with insertion | ||
| die Universität | der Professor | der Universitätsprofessor | ||
| das Leben | der Gefährte | der Lebensgefährte | ||
| die Tomate | der Saft | der Tomatensaft |
More:
Nouns aren't the only types of words that can be used to form compounds. In these cases, too, the base word determines the part of speech of the entire compound word.
| Description word | Base word | Compound | ||||
| Adjektiv | + | noun | ||||
| schwarz | + | der Wald | der Schwarzwald | = noun | ||
| Verb | + | noun | ||||
| sprechen | + | Zeit | die Sprechzeit | = noun | ||
| Adjektiv | + | Adjective | ||||
| hell | + | braun | hellbraun | = adjective | ||
| Substantiv | + | Adjective | ||||
| Preis | + | wert | preiswert | = adjective |