In German, various words can be combined with other words or syllables to form new words. You've already learned some of the more essential ways of word formation.
Combining individual words (compounds):
Examples:
| der Wind | + | das Rad | = | das Windrad | ||||
| rot | + | der Wein | = | der Rotwein |
Adding prefixes to words:
Examples:
stehen - aufstehen
stehen - verstehen
Many nouns, verbs and adjectives can be turned into (other) adjectives by adding certain suffixes. Three of the most common suffixes to form adjectives are -ig, -isch and -lich.
| Original word | Suffix | Adjective | ||
| der Freund | -lich | freundlich | ||
| das Glück | -lich | glücklich | ||
| der Pessimist | -isch | pessimistisch | ||
| der Typ | -isch | typisch | ||
| die Ruhe | -ig | ruhig | ||
| die Sonne | -ig | sonnig |
Deriving an adjective from another word may require the addition of an umlaut to the vowel, in other words it causes a vowel change.
Examples:
der Norden - nördlich
die Gefahr - gefährlich
der Hass - hässlich
Some other suffixes used to create adjectives include:
-los: arbeitslos
-bar: wunderbar
-haft: traumhaft
-sam: langsam
Word families
Words derived from the same base word are said to belong to a word family. If you know the base word, you'll usually be able to infer the meaning of related words. So word families can help you to understand unfamiliar words and expand your vocabulary. Here's an example of a word family with the base word
kauf-.
| Verb | Noun | Adjective | ||
| kaufen | der Verkäufer | ausverkauft | ||
| verkaufen | das Kaufhaus | verkäuflich | ||
| einkaufen | der Einkaufszettel |