Day 34 - verbs as nouns Flashcards
You may have noticed already that the majority of the vocabulary thus far has been verbs. That’s because almost every verb can also be converted into a noun.
Like in English, many nouns in German are derived from their verb counterparts.
Some verbs can simply be used in their infinitive forms as nouns,
some use the past tense with a vowel change.
Study the following examples:
The food. Das Essen.
The speech. Das Sprechen.
The drink. Das Getränk.
The conversation. Das Gespräch.
all DAS
Like in English, adding -er or -erin to many verb stems will denote a person who does that verb:
The speaker. Der Sprecher.
The baker. Die Bäckerin.
Another common construction is to replace -en with -ung:
to govern regieren
The government. Die Regierung.
to introduce einleiten
The introduction. Die Einleitung.
-ung = feminine DIE
das Unternehmen…the corporation
die Regierung…the government
DIE. …ung
die Entwicklung…the development, trend, or evolution
DIE…ung
die Entscheidung…the decision
DIE…ung
das Opfer..the sacrifice, the victim
der Bericht…the report, the record
der Druck, die Drücke…the pressure
der Krieg…the war
die Aussprache…the pronunciation
das Grab, die Gräber…the grave
- The corporation paid (past) taxes.
Das Unternehmen bezahlte Steuern.
- The government passes laws.
Die Regierung verabschiedet Gesetze.
verabschieden = to adopt, to pass, to see off
