Compound nouns are made up from two or more words. The last word in the composite must be a noun. It determines the gender and carries the basic meaning of the compound noun. Compound nouns can be formed by combining
- noun + noun, e.g. der Regen (the rain) + die Jacke (the jacket): die Regenjacke (the rain jacket)
- verb + noun, e.g. fahren (to drive) + die Schule (the school): die Fahrschule (the driving school)
- preposition + noun, e.g. auf (on) + der Zug (the train): der Aufzug (the lift)
- adjective + noun, e.g. hoch (high) + das Haus (the house): das Hochhaus (the high-rise building)
It is possible to combine more than two words, e.g.
der Fuß (the foot) + der Ball (the ball) + das Spiel (the match): das Fußballspiel (the soccer match)
Don't be intimidated by long compound nouns. Break them into individual pieces, and start from the right-hand side to unravel them.
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