The German language is notorious for its long words, many of which are a Nomenkompositum (compound noun).
Interestingly, Das Nomenkompositum is a compound noun itself – made up of the words Nomen (noun) and Kompositum (Composite or compound).
Note that while the term translates to 'compound noun', German Nomenkomposita (this is the plural) can be made of nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs plus a noun.
Of course outside of grammar school, it is relatively rare that you’d find yourself using Nomenkompositum in a sentence, but if you get a chance it’s a good one for impressing your German speaking friends.
More importantly, however, is understanding that many German words are compound nouns.
It’s not uncommon that a word that looks impossibly long at first glance actually breaks down into two or three words that you’ve heard before.
Some common compound words
It’s commonly understood that German is not the easiest language to learn, but one thing that makes it a little easier is the gratuitous use of compound nouns.
For example, why memorise different words for shoes and gloves when the latter can just be called die Handschuhe (hand-shoes)?
READ ALSO: 10 German words with hilarious literal translations
Some of these verbal amalgamations can be a bit funny – we're looking at you ‘grief bacon’ (der Kummerspeck), which is the word for when you put on weight due to emotional over-eating. But plenty of other Nomenkomposita are basically the same as their English counterparts.
For example, a water bottle is a die Wasserflasche or sunglasses are die Sonnenbrille.
Even the English word ‘kindergarten’ comes from the German Nomenkompositum.
Some other compound nouns are so commonly used in German that you would be forgiven for forgetting that it is actually made up of multiple words.
Hauptbahnhof, for example, is composed of Haupt (Central) and Bahnhof (train station).
One helpful tip is that a compound word’s gender – and corresponding article (der/die/das) – is determined by the last word in the compound.
So taking the above example, you know that it’s der Hauptbahnhof because Bahnhof is a masculine term.
Some ludicrous compound words
The above examples are all simple Nomenkomposita, made up of just two words put together. But compound words in German can be made up of two, three, four, five or even more words joined together.
While the exceptionally long ones are quite intimidating at first glance, there’s no need to worry – these aren’t words that tend to come up in conversation.
A common one that you’ve probably com across before: die Anmeldebescheinigung – the infamous 'registration certificate' that all new residents in Germany must obtain before they can do much of anything else.
READ ALSO: Is renting a flat 'without Anmeldung' illegal in Germany?
Exceptionally long German compound words tend not to be too useful in casual conversation, but they can be funny to gawk at.
Among the longest German words is das Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz, which is, of course, the “Beef Labelling Monitoring Transfer of Responsibilities Act”.
The words breaks down into nine parts: Rind (cow) + Fleisch (meat) + Etikettierung (labeling) + Über (over) + Wachung (watching) + Aufgaben (tasks) + Übertragung (transfer) + Tragung (carrying) + Gesetz (law).
At 80 letters long, perhaps the longest German word is die Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, which is a must-know among sailors on Germany’s southern rivers as it refers to the “Danube steamship electricity main works construction sub-civil servant company”.
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