Compound nounsCompound nouns are words formed of two or more nouns together. In English they usually stay as two or more words but in German they are usually written as one word. The gender of that word is always that of the last word within the noun, even if the first or second has a different gender.

Examples

der Spiegel das Ei

+

= das Spiegelei

die Couch der Tisch

+ =

der Couchtisch

die Blume

+der Topf

= der Blumentopf

der Tee

+ das Glas

+ die Tasse

= das Teeglas

= die Teetasse

der Blumentopf

die Haltestelle (das Halten + die Stelle)

der Kochtopf (das Kochen + der Topf)

die Geburtstagskarteder Geburtstagskuchendas Geburtstagsgeschenk

Some nouns need to be linked with an e, en, es, n or s, others may lose some letters. That way those words can be pronounced as one word and don’t need a big breather in between each individual word.

This is a sample lesson (minus the voice over ) of my Udemy course ☺'German grammar - gender: is it der, die or das?'

For more info and special offers check http://angelikasgerman.co.uk/online-german-tuition/