What’s on the Compound Nouns poster
A definition and 6 facts worth remembering.
German joins nouns into single words without spaces or hyphens. The final element carries the meaning and the gender; everything before it modifies.
- The last noun determines the gender and the plural.
- Read right to left to understand: Handschuh = hand-shoe = glove.
- Sometimes a linking -s or -en is inserted: Arbeitszimmer.
- There is no theoretical length limit.
- Splitting one is not optional — the space would change the meaning.
- Dictionaries list the parts, not the compound.
- Gender from — the last part
- Meaning — read right to left
- Spaces — none
- Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung: speed-limit. Geschwindigkeit + s + Begrenzung.
Die Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft is a real word, and every part of it is doing a job.
Questions about the Compound Nouns poster
- What’s on the Compound Nouns poster?
- A definition and 6 facts worth remembering. German joins nouns into single words without spaces or hyphens. The final element carries the meaning and the gender; everything before it modifies. The last noun determines the gender and the plural.; Read right to left to understand: Handschuh = hand-shoe = glove.; Sometimes a linking -s or -en is inserted: Arbeitszimmer.; There is no theoretical length limit.; Splitting one is not optional — the space would change the meaning.; Dictionaries list the parts, not the compound.; Gender from — the last part; Meaning — read right to left; Spaces — none; Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung: speed-limit. Geschwindigkeit + s + Begrenzung.. Die Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaft is a real word, and every part of it is doing a job.
- Who is the Compound Nouns poster for?
- Compound Nouns belongs to the Languages section rather than to a school year, because languages is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning german can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Compound Nouns poster?
- Read a compound from the right. The last word is what it is; everything before describes it. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Compound Nouns belongs on the wall where that languages work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Compound Nouns?
- Adjective Endings, The Four Cases and Da- & Wo- Compounds sit alongside Compound Nouns in the Languages section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Adjective EndingsThe Four CasesDa- & Wo- Compounds
- Is the Compound Nouns poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Compound Nouns downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Languages section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Compound Nouns poster print at?
- Compound Nouns is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Compound Nouns loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Compound Nouns on the same wall.
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