A very quick, nonscary look at german compound nouns. That is, in familiar terms, compounding occurs when two or more words or signs are joined to make one longer word or sign. For example, babysitter is a oneword compound noun that means a person who looks after your children when you go out for the evening, while disc jockey, is a twoword compound noun that means someone who plays records or. This is a free beginner english grammar quiz and esl worksheet. However, a compound noun written as two or more words raises the question of whether those words should be linked with a hyphens. Mark twain said the following about the length of german words. Compound nouns in german are nouns made of two or more nouns joined together into one noun. Compound nouns are nouns that consist of two or more words. Most compound nouns form their plurals like any other noun. A compound noun is formed when two words are combined to make a completely new word. Each compound noun acts as a single unit and can be modified by adjectives and other nouns.
Compound nouns a compound noun is a noun that is made with two or more words. Blackboard jungle, leftover ingredients, gunmetal sheen, and green monkey disease are only a few examples. Compound nouns are usually made up of two nouns or an adjective and a noun, but other combinations are. Some compound words are hyphenated to avoid being misread or ambiguous. Compound nouns often have a meaning that is different, or more specific, than the two. Chances are, you probably wont encounter a 63letterlong word in your daily german reading, but you might come across smaller compound german nouns. A compoundnounbyadding 2 wordstogethertomake one word. You need to know how to use them if you want to communicate effectively but there are rules and exceptions. The words which ambush you dressed in comic obviousness.
When a compound adjective follows a noun, a hyphen is usually not necessary. These words always look plural and sometimes even look feminine, but a compound noun is always masculine and is the same in its singular and plural form. Compound nouns definition and examples of compound noun. Generally, the first word in the compound noun tells us what kind of person or thing it is. The first part tells us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is. In what other language but german could you construct le mot juste for a secret love of. New words from the compound noun factory make their debuts in our dictionaries every year. A bookcase is a piece of furniture for storing books it has several levels, each. A compound noun is a noun made from at least two words. A good rule of thumb is to write the most common compound nouns as one word, and the others as two words.
You need to know how to use them if you want to communicate effectively but there are rules and. This is a large list of compound nouns and can be download by clicking on this link. These are very common, and new combinations are invented almost daily. Compound nouns english online with free exercises, teaching english. The words tooth and paste are each nouns in their own right, but if you join them together they form a new word toothpaste. In light of this, here are some tips and tricks for helping you deal with this grammar rule. In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme less precisely, a word or sign that consists of more than one stem. More lessons on nouns and english grammar ielts, toefl and english as a second language types of combined nouns. Im sure that it was the most awful thing that she had found in her wardrobe. Jul 17, 2012 this animation teaches the learner to define common, proper and compound nouns and identify a compound noun as common or proper noun. When two or more words are connected by one or more hyphens, the result is a hyphenated compound. A compound noun consists of two or more words usually two nouns or an adjective and.
A large number of compound nouns are based on phrasal verbs. Compound nouns are words that name a variety of things people, animals, objects, places, phenomena, etc. Unabhaengigkeitserklaerungen twains frustrations with learning german are well documented in his book a tramp abroad. That books table of compounds categorizes compounds into various types, and helps us discover principles of spelling. Word formation and compound nouns this quiz will help you practice the skill of word formation in english by forming compound nouns matching exercise.
The entire book describes extremely long words with their english explanation. Compound words often, the meaning of a compound word cannot be discovered by knowing the meaning of the different words that form it. Ever thought, there should be a german word for that. A few, like motherinlaw and hole in one do not place the s at the end, but on the most significant word.
Three of the words below go together with head to make a new word. Summary this thesis investigates computational approaches for analysing the semantic relations in compound nouns and other nounnoun constructions. The word black is an adjective and board is a noun, but if you. In spanish, compound nouns are often created by attaching the plural form of a noun to the base of a verb. Any and its compounds else and compound words compound adjectives for beginners compound adjectives im back and back increase your vocabulary.
The elements in a compound noun are very diverse parts of speech. In english, words, particularly adjectives and nouns, are combined into compound structures in a variety of ways. The second part identifies the object or person in question. This means that the meaning of the new word must be significantly. Here, well take an upclose look at compound nouns so you can recognize them when you see them.
The words that make up a compound noun are words that can stand alone. Download the listof compound nounsin pdf format thisis a large listof compoundnounsand can be downloadbyclickingonthislink. Compound nouns are words for people, animals, places, things, or ideas, made up of two or more words. The table below shows a list of compound nouns used in english. Nouns based on phrasal verbs often have an informal feel to them and they are particularly common in newspaper reporting. Large list of compoundnouns to download in pdf what are compoundnouns. Compound nouns what do these six words have in common. Test yourself with our free english language quiz about plurals compound nouns. It can be a bit like finding the tail of a snake and the head of another, but practice a few and you will get the hang of it.
The parts of speech the writing centre university of ottawa. You have noticed that the compound noun can be written either as a single word, as a word with a hyphen, or as two words. Well, thanks to the brilliantly original mind behind schotts original miscellany, now there is. Click on the text of each compound to see the answer. Most compound nouns in english are formed by nouns modified by other nouns or adjectives. The shopping mall has a 4storey with five entrances. The meaning of the compound noun is indicated in brackets at the end of the sentence.
A masculine or neuter noun with genitive singular and nominative plural ending in en is called an nnoun or weak noun german. If you say two nouns joined together to form a single word, eg teapot, steamboat, then none of the examples quoted above from longman are compound nouns. In this sentence, books is a noun, the subject of the sentence. A compound word is one word created by adding two words together. Compound words find the word change theme similar tests. English grammar exercises, word formation, compound nouns. Compound nouns are nouns that are made with two or more words. May 20, 2016 compound nouns are very common in english.
A compound noun is a noun that is made up of two or more words. A single noun made up of two or more words is called a compound noun e. Compound nouns can be combined in three different ways. The farlex grammar book english grammar parts of speech nouns compound nouns compound nouns what is a compound noun. Compound nouns are nouns made up of two or more words. Match the nouns on the left with the nouns on the right and find compounds. Compounds can be written either as one word or as separate words sometimes hyphenated.
List of compound nouns and a large list of compound nouns. Most compound nouns are made with nouns that have been modified by adjectives or other nouns. One single word, two separate words, or hyphenated words. Schottenfreude is a unique, musthave dictionary, complete with newly coined words that explore the idiosyncrasies of life as only the german language can.
Nov 06, 2017 compound noun compound nouns are words for people, animals, places, things, or ideas, made up of two or more words. Popular examples of german compound nouns one of my students brought this book to one of our classes. Compound nouns can be written with spaces, without spaces, or with hyphens. While the final element of a compound noun must be a noun, the first element an be an adjective, an adverb, a verb or verb stem, or a preposition. Usually, the first word of a compound noun is stressed when you say the noun.
Its hard to imagine ever learning every word in the dictionary, let alone all those used colloquially which dont even appear in it, so dont worry if you dont get all of them. It is called schottenfreude german words for the human condition and is about very long compound german words. In these lessons, we will learn types of compound nouns, how to form plural compound nouns and how to pronounce compound nouns. Write to our message board with your own examples of interesting compound nouns you have. Print the the compound nouns list to print the compound nouns list part 1. Compound nouns discuss a compound nounis two nouns used to name one thing. You can click on the printer icon just below and to the right of the contact us menu button at the top of the page or copy and paste the part of the exercise you want onto a word document and then print onto some paper. English compound modifiers are constructed in a very similar way to the compound noun.
The words which open up whole new worlds of abstract understanding and are already used in english. List of compound nouns and a large list of compound nouns to. It is important to understand and recognize compound nouns. A compound modifier is a sequence of modifiers of a noun that function as a single unit. You can do this grammar quiz online or print it on paper.
Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. A compound noun by adding 2 words together to make one word. Blackboard jungle, leftover ingredients, gunmetal sheen, and green monkey disease are only a few examples a compound modifier is a sequence of modifiers of a noun that function as a single unit. It tests what you learned on the compound nouns page. This term he notes as meaning independencedeclarations sic, which is perhaps a parchmentsaving way our own declaration of independence could have been titled. Compound noun compound nouns are words for people, animals, places, things, or ideas, made up of two or more words. It consists of two or more words adjectives, gerunds, or nouns of which the lefthand component modifies the. Some german words are so long that they have a perspective.
This animation teaches the learner to define common, proper and compound nouns and identify a compound noun as common or proper noun. If you cant see the flash quiz, or if it is taking too long to open, click refresh on your browser. The gender of the compound noun will always be determined by the last noun of the word. Sometimes these terms are extended to feminine nouns with genitive singular and nominative plural en for the four cases, nominative, accusative, dative and genitive, the main forms of declension are. First students form the compound nouns and later use them to complete a text alice springs in australia. Compound nouns in particular have received a great deal of attention in recent years due to the challenges they pose for. Get all volumes of the farlex grammar book in paperback or ebook. This page includes examples of compound nouns and an interactive test. Using compound nouns, can you shorten the following phrases. Compound nouns are usually made up of two nouns or an adjective and a noun, but other combinations are also possible, as well. A compound noun is a noun consisting of two or more words working together as a single unit to name a person, place, or thing. Here are 08 ways to form a compound noun in english.
Double click on each word for its definition pop up window. One notices particularly terminology in science and the. This is vaguely word stress because some compound nouns are one word, and some are two words. This is only a short list to show you some examples of english compound nouns.