How do Germans form new words? The Germans are very fond o | Learn German with Leo🦁

How do Germans form new words?

The Germans are very fond of compound words - they play with words like with cubes. Look closer:

der Wintersport (Winter + Sport) - winter sports (winter + sports),

der Hauptbahnhof (Haupt + Bahn + Hof) - Central Station.

At first glance, such a long word may be intimidating, but in fact it is quite convenient. The main thing: take (and pronounce) such a word in parts, as several separate words, then it will be easy to cope with it.

What kind will the compound word be, what article will it get? The article is determined by the last word - by the "locomotive":

das Benzin + der Preis = der Benzinpreis (gasoline price),

das Bier + die Flasche = die Bierflasche (beer bottle).

Some compound words use a special link - (e)s or (less often) - (e)n:

der Liebling + die Speise = die Lieblingsspeise (favorite food),

die Wirtschaft + die Krise = die Wirtschaftskrise (economic crisis),

der Bauer + das Haus = das Bauernhaus (Farmhouse),

das Ohr + die Schmerzen = die Ohrenschmerzen (ear pains).

In one word, it is not at all necessary to meet two nouns, other combinations are also possible:

rasieren (shave) + der Apparat = der Rasierapparat (razor),

hoch (high) + das Haus = das Hochhaus (high-rise building),

außen (external) + die Politik = die Außenpolitik (Foreign policy),

vor (before) + der Name (name) = der Vorname (first name).

An interesting feature of the German language is the addition of two variants defining it to one defined word at once:

West– und Osteuropa - Western and Eastern Europe,

an– und abstellen - enable and disable.

As you can see, Germans are flexible with creating new words by combining 2 or more!