German grammar › B1
Word formation — Wortbildung
Level B1 · compound nouns · prefixes · das Lernen · der Alte · -ung, -heit, -chen
How does German build words?
German makes new words by combining smaller ones (Hand + Schuh = Handschuh), by adding prefixes (kommen → bekommen) and suffixes (frei → Freiheit). If you see the pieces, long words stop being scary.
Why it helps
- Reading: you can often guess a long word’s meaning.
- Gender: the last piece usually decides it.
- Vocabulary: one root gives you many words.
Pattern
piece + piece → last piece = main meaning + gender
Examples
- das Haus + die Tür = **die** Haustür — the front door
- frei → die Frei**heit** — free → freedom
Watch out: Prefix verbs don’t always add up: bekommen = receive, not “become”.
Connects to: Gender patterns (-ung, -heit, -chen).
small words + small words → one bigger meaning
Read long German words from the end first — the last element tells you what the whole thing basically is.
Compound nouns — stack them
Break the monster into pieces
die Hand + + + der Schuh + + + die Schachtel
→ die Handschuhschachtel
- Schachtel = box — So the complete word is fundamentally a type of box.
- Gender = last noun — die Schachtel → therefore die Handschuhschachtel.
Same trick with normal words
- das Schlafzimmer · schlaf(en) + Zimmer
a room for sleeping - die Haustür · Haus + Tür
a door of a house - der Fußballplatz · Fußball + Platz
a place / field for football
Verb prefixes change the meaning
- kommen — come
- ankommen — arrive
- bekommen — receive / get
- entkommen — escape
- vorkommen — occur / happen / appear
- verkommen — deteriorate / become run-down
- kommen ≠ same meaning forever — Prefixes can create a meaning that is only partly predictable.
- Learn the whole verb — ankommen = arrive · bekommen = receive · not simply “prefix + come”.
Turn verbs into nouns
Infinitive → capitalized neuter noun
- essen → das Essen — eating / food / meal depending on context
- trinken → das Trinken — drinking
- lernen → das Lernen — learning
- lernen — verb → to learn
- das Lernen — noun → learning. Capital letter + das.
Turn adjectives into people / things
adjective → capitalized nominalized adjective
alt + → + der Alte / die Alte
der Alte = the old man / old one · die Alte = the old woman / old one
- der Alte — nominative masculine
- mit dem Alten — dative masculine → ending changes
Suffixes reveal meaning and gender
- -heit / -keit · die Freiheit · die Möglichkeit
often creates abstract qualities or states. These nouns are feminine. - -ung · die Übung · die Lösung
often forms nouns for an action, process or result. These nouns are feminine. - -schaft · die Freundschaft · die Mannschaft
often forms groups, relationships or abstract concepts. These nouns are feminine.
-heit · -keit · -ung · -schaft → usually DIE
These suffixes are much more useful for gender prediction than guessing randomly.
Diminutives — small / little
- -chen · das Haus → das Häuschen
little house - -lein · das Büchlein · das Fräulein
das Büchlein = little book. Fräulein historically meant “young / little woman”; today it is old-fashioned as a form of address.
- -chen → das — das Mädchen · das Häuschen
- -lein → das — diminutives with -lein are also neuter.
Final full picture
Summary
- compound nouns — stack smaller nouns (Hand + Schuh + Schachtel)
- compound gender — comes from the last noun (Schachtel → die)
- verb prefix — changes verb meaning (kommen → ankommen)
- verb → noun — capitalize the infinitive, neuter (lernen → das Lernen)
- adjective → noun — capitalize + adjective ending (alt → der Alte)
- -heit / -keit — abstract quality (die Freiheit)
- -ung — action / process / result (die Lösung)
- -schaft — group / relation / concept (die Freundschaft)
- -chen / -lein — diminutive + neuter (das Häuschen)
Long word? Start from the END.
The last part usually tells you the basic category and the gender of a compound noun.
Practise this lesson — Practice rounds, a score and your progress are in the free app.
Practise this lesson · Start learning — it’s free