Nouns from verbs and adjectives
die Nominalisierung
Nominalization in German means forming nouns from verbs and adjectives with the endings -ung, -heit, -keit, -er, or with das + infinitive.
German turns verbs and adjectives into nouns with a small set of endings, much like English does with -tion, -ness or -er. The difference: every German ending brings a fixed gender (article) with it.
Right now: nouns from verbs (-ung)
ShortcutAdd -ung to the verb stem to make a noun. This ending always brings the article die.
| Verb | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| entscheiden | die Entscheidung | decision |
| wohnen | die Wohnung | apartment / flat |
| üben | die Übung | exercise |
Das ist eine wichtige Entscheidung.
That is an important decision.
Nouns from adjectives (-heit / -keit)
To turn adjectives into nouns you use -heit or -keit — like English -ness or -dom. These also always take the article die.
| Adjective | Noun | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| frei | die Freiheit | freedom |
| krank | die Krankheit | illness |
| möglich | die Möglichkeit | possibility / opportunity |
As a rule, -heit goes on a plain adjective, and -keit goes on adjectives ending in -ig, -lich or -bar. (Some adjectives ending in -er, like sauber, also take -keit: die Sauberkeit).
Gesundheit ist wichtiger als Schönheit.
Health is more important than beauty.
The easiest: das + infinitive
You can turn any verb into a noun without changing it at all: just capitalise the first letter and put das in front. It becomes a noun for the action, like the English “-ing” noun (reading, writing).
Das Lesen macht mir Spaß.
Reading is fun for me.
Beim Essen darf man nicht sprechen.
You mustn’t talk while eating. (bei dem Essen = beim Essen)
What you just learned
Der ___ (fahren) ist sehr müde.
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Fahrer — To make the person who does the verb fahren (the driver), use -er: der Fahrer.
The phrase Das Möglichkeit is correct.
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False. Nouns ending in -keit always take die: die Möglichkeit.
___ Entscheidung war richtig.
Show the answer
Die — nouns ending in -ung are feminine, without exception. This ending makes a noun from a verb (entscheiden → die Entscheidung) and brings its article along.
Making people (-er)
To name the person who does the verb, add -er to the stem — the same idea as English teach → teacher. These persons are masculine, so they always take der (for women, add -in).
| Verb | Person (noun) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lehren | der Lehrer | teacher |
| fahren | der Fahrer | driver |
Er ist ein guter Fahrer.
He is a good driver.
Build the sentence yourself
Tap the words and put them in order. This is the hardest part of German — and there are no options to pick from, you build it.
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tap the words
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Know this before the test
The core of the topic in three lines, then the mistakes people make most often.
- -ung, -heit and -keit always take die
The gender of nouns with these endings never changes: it is always die (feminine).
die Wohnung, die Freiheit, die Möglichkeit
- das + infinitive makes the action a noun
If you capitalise the infinitive of a verb and put das in front of it, it becomes a noun.
das Lesen, das Schreiben
Der Wohnung ist groß.
Die Wohnung ist groß.
The ending -ung always takes die.
Test yourself
Tap an answer — we will look at why together.
Entscheidung war richtig.
The decision was right.
Ich suche eine neue . (wohnen)
I’m looking for a new apartment.
Gesundheit und sind wichtig. (frei)
Health and freedom are important.
The phrase Das Möglichkeit is correct.
Im Krankenhaus ist (sauber) wichtig.
In a hospital, cleanliness is important.
Er leidet an einer schweren . (krank)
He suffers from a serious illness.
Practice done — –
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Nominalization worksheet
This whole page — tables, traps, examples — as one PDF. Download it, print it, run through it before the exam.
Related topics
Nouns
das Haus · die Haustür
German nouns (Substantive) are the words that name things; they are always capitalised and carry a gender: das Haus, die Haustür.
der · die · das
read the ending, not the word
Stop memorising der/die/das one word at a time; read the ending instead.
Infinitive with zu
zu · um…zu · ohne…zu
The infinitive with zu is the German construction where an infinitive is introduced by “zu”: zu, um…zu, ohne…zu.