Genau
Topic test · A1

Nouns test

13questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
Start the test Read the topic first

One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

13 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

Which one is spelled correctly?

Brot and Milch are nouns, so they are capitalised. kaufe is a verb and stays lower case.

das Haus + die Tür = ?

house + door = front door

die Haustür. The last word always decides the article — here die Tür.

Why is die Zeitung die?

The -ung ending. The endings -ung · -heit · -keit · -schaft · -ion make a noun die with almost no exceptions.

What does Krankenhaus mean?

Hospital. krank (sick) + Haus (house). Breaking a long word into its parts is the most useful reading technique in German.

Which one is wrong?

die Haus Tür. A compound noun is written as one word; no space goes in between.

Das ist verboten. (smoking)

Rauchen. When a verb is used like a noun it switches to a capital letter and takes das.

How are nouns written in German?

German’s signature: all nouns are capitalised — das Brot, die Milch, der Tisch. A noun written in lower case is a spelling mistake.

Which article does a noun ending in -chen take?

The diminutives -chen and -lein make a word neuter: das Mädchen · das Häuschen.

Turning an infinitive into a noun: “swimming is healthy” →

When an infinitive becomes a noun it is CAPITALISED and neuter: das Schwimmen · das Rauchen. At the start of a sentence it can also stand without the article.

Whose article can you tell from its ending?

-ung · -heit · -keit · -ion → die. Nouns without an ending rule are memorised together with their article.

The sentence “Ich trinke kaffee.” is correct.

False. In German the first letter of ALL nouns is capitalised, whether they are proper names or common nouns: Kaffee.

Ich trinke jeden Morgen .

I drink coffee every morning.

Kaffee. Nouns are capitalised even in the middle of a sentence.

Build the sentence: I’m buying bread and milk.

Tap the pieces to build the sentence

Ich kaufe Brot und Milch. Nouns (Brot, Milch) start with a capital letter wherever they stand in the sentence.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. Every noun gets a capital letter

    German’s signature: das Brot · die Milch. A noun written in lower case is a spelling mistake — even our own language checker flags it.

    Ich kaufe Brot und Milch.

  2. Compound nouns are written TOGETHER

    die Haustür · das Krankenhaus — splitting them into two words (die Haus Tür) is a mistake. The article comes from the last part.

    das Haus + die Tür = die Haustür

  3. The ending tells you the article

    -ung/-heit/-keit/-ion → die · -chen/-lein → das. Nouns without a rule are memorised with their article.

    die Zeitung · das Mädchen

  4. An infinitive becomes a noun and takes das

    das Rauchen · das Schwimmen — a noun made from a verb is always neuter and always capitalised.

    Das Rauchen ist verboten.

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • ich kaufe brot und milch

    Ich kaufe Brot und Milch.

    Nouns are capitalised.

  • die Haus Tür

    die Haustür

    A compound noun is one word.

  • der Wohnung

    die Wohnung

    -ung is always die.

  • das rauchen ist verboten

    Das Rauchen ist verboten.

    A verb used as a noun is capitalised too.