One of the first things that strikes an English speaker reading German is the sheer length of its words. Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzung (speed limit) and Wohnzimmertisch (living-room table) are single, unbroken words. This is not a quirk — it is a rule. German writes compounds solid, with no space and no hyphen, exactly where English would use two or three spaced words. The official term for this whole area of orthography is Getrennt- und Zusammenschreibung, "separate and combined writing," and it is one of the genuinely tricky corners of German spelling — so tricky that the 1996 reform and its 2006 revision spent more effort here than almost anywhere else.
The core principle: nouns join, many verb phrases split
The single most useful generalization is this: noun + noun compounds are always written as one word, while many verb combinations are written separately. English does the reverse — it spaces its noun compounds ("living room table") and often joins its verb phrases. Internalize this mirror-image relationship and half the battle is won.
Stell die Tassen bitte auf den Wohnzimmertisch.
Put the cups on the living-room table, please. — three English words, one German word.
Hast du das Geburtstagsgeschenk für Oma schon eingepackt?
Have you already wrapped Grandma's birthday present? — Geburtstag + Geschenk fused into one.
Die Haustür klemmt schon wieder.
The front door is sticking again. — Haus + Tür, never 'Haus Tür' or 'Haus-Tür'.
Verb + verb: usually separate
When two verbs combine, the modern default is to write them separately. This was a major change in the reform: forms that older dictionaries fused are now spaced.
Wir gehen heute Abend essen.
We're going out to eat tonight. — essen gehen, two words.
Nach dem Mittagessen würde ich am liebsten spazieren gehen.
After lunch I'd most like to go for a walk. — spazieren gehen, separate.
There is an important nuance the reform created: for a handful of common pairs, both spellings are now permitted. The textbook case is kennenlernen / kennen lernen (to get to know). The 1996 reform forced kennen lernen apart; the 2006 revision restored the one-word kennenlernen as an equally valid variant. The same applies to sitzen bleiben / sitzenbleiben and liegen lassen / liegenlassen — but only in their literal sense (see below).
Ich möchte deine Familie endlich kennenlernen.
I'd finally like to meet your family. — kennenlernen and kennen lernen are both correct today.
Noun + verb: it depends on how fixed the unit is
Some noun + verb combinations stay separate because the noun is still felt as a real object: Rad fahren (to cycle), Auto fahren (to drive), Eis laufen (to ice-skate), Klavier spielen. Others have hardened into genuine single verbs (univerbations) and are written solid: teilnehmen (to take part), stattfinden (to take place), heimkehren (to return home).
Mein Sohn lernt gerade Rad fahren.
My son is learning to ride a bike. — Rad fahren stays apart.
Die Konferenz findet nächste Woche in Wien statt.
The conference takes place in Vienna next week. — stattfinden is one verb (here split by separable-verb word order).
Wie viele Personen nehmen an dem Kurs teil?
How many people are taking part in the course? — teilnehmen, a fixed unit.
Watch the trap: the verb is two words (Rad fahren, Auto fahren), but the moment you nominalize it — turn it into "the activity of …" — it fuses into one capitalized noun: das Radfahren, das Autofahren. The verb stays split; the noun goes solid.
Adjective + verb: the literal-vs-idiomatic test
This is where German rewards understanding over memorization. When an adjective combines with a verb, ask: is the adjective describing a literal result, or has the whole thing become an idiom with a new meaning?
- Literal result → separate:
kaputt machen(to break something — make it broken),sauber machen(to clean),fest binden/festbinden. - Idiomatic, new meaning → solid:
schwarzfahren(to ride public transport without a ticket — not "to drive while black"),krankschreiben(to sign someone off sick),freisprechen(to acquit).
Pass auf, du machst die Vase kaputt!
Careful, you'll break the vase! — literal result, written apart.
Er ist in der U-Bahn schwarzgefahren und wurde erwischt.
He fare-dodged on the subway and got caught. — idiom, written solid.
The same logic explains the famous sitzen bleiben / sitzenbleiben pair. Taken literally — remaining seated — it is two words. As the school idiom "to repeat a year / be held back," it is one.
Du kannst ruhig sitzen bleiben, ich hole das selbst.
You can stay seated, I'll get it myself. — literal, two words.
Wenn er die Prüfung nicht besteht, muss er sitzenbleiben.
If he fails the exam, he'll have to repeat the year. — idiom, one word.
Adverb + verb and a few notorious singletons
A handful of high-frequency items simply have to be learned:
| Written solid | Written separate |
|---|---|
| irgendetwas, irgendwas, irgendwie | zu viel, zu wenig (always two words) |
| sodass and so dass (both valid) | so viel wie (in comparisons) |
| infrage / in Frage (both valid) | recht haben / Recht haben (both valid) |
Note viel and zu viel: viel is one word, but the intensifier zu (too) is never glued on — zu viel is always two words, just as too much is in English.
Ich habe heute viel zu viel Kaffee getrunken.
I drank far too much coffee today. — viel solid, zu viel apart.
Sag mir, ob du irgendwas brauchst.
Tell me if you need anything at all. — irgendwas is one word.
The connector "so that" exists in two equally correct spellings since the reform: sodass and so dass. Pick one and be consistent within a text.
Es regnete stark, sodass wir das Spiel abbrechen mussten.
It rained hard, so that we had to call off the match. — sodass (or so dass) both fine.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich habe einen neuen Wohnzimmer Tisch gekauft.
Incorrect — English-style spacing of a noun compound.
✅ Ich habe einen neuen Wohnzimmertisch gekauft.
I bought a new living-room table. — noun compounds are solid, never spaced.
❌ Sie ist eine bekannte Kinder-Buch-Autorin.
Incorrect — hyphenating an ordinary, readable compound on the English model.
✅ Sie ist eine bekannte Kinderbuchautorin.
She's a well-known children's-book author. — fuse it solid; reserve hyphens for genuinely awkward compounds.
❌ Wir wollen am Wochenende spazierengehen und einkaufengehen.
Incorrect — over-joining verb + verb combinations.
✅ Wir wollen am Wochenende spazieren gehen und einkaufen gehen.
We want to go for a walk and go shopping this weekend. — verb + verb is normally separate.
❌ Er hat in der Bahn schwarz gefahren.
Incorrect when the idiom 'fare-dodge' is meant — splitting an idiomatic adjective + verb.
✅ Er ist in der Bahn schwarzgefahren.
He fare-dodged on the train. — the idiom is solid (and takes sein in the perfect).
❌ Ich habe zuviel gegessen.
Incorrect by current rules — gluing the intensifier zu onto viel.
✅ Ich habe zu viel gegessen.
I ate too much. — zu viel is always two words.
Key Takeaways
- Noun + noun is always one solid word — the exact opposite of English's spaced compounds.
living room table=Wohnzimmertisch. - Verb + verb is normally separate (
spazieren gehen), and the 2006 revision made several pairs (kennenlernen/kennen lernen) acceptable either way. - Adjective + verb hinges on meaning: literal result = separate (
kaputt machen), idiom = solid (schwarzfahren,sitzenbleiben). - A few items are simply fixed:
zu viel(two words),irgendwas(one),sodass/so dass(either). - When in doubt, prefer solid for nouns and separate for verb phrases; the worst English-speaker errors are spacing noun compounds and hyphenating things that don't need it.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Compound NounsA2 — How German glues nouns together into one long word — why the last piece decides the gender and meaning, where the stress falls, and what those linking -s and -n letters are doing.
- The 1996 Spelling ReformB1 — The 1996 Rechtschreibreform (revised 2004/2006) redistributed ß/ss by vowel length, restored triple consonants in compounds (Schifffahrt), allowed more separate writing, and re-capitalized some fixed phrases — and you will still meet the old spellings in any pre-1996 book.
- Separable Verbs: How They SplitA2 — How German separable verbs detach their stressed prefix and send it to the end of a main clause.
- Hyphenation and Word DivisionB2 — How German uses the hyphen (Bindestrich) — the suspended hyphen for shared compound parts, clarity hyphens, hyphens with numbers and letters — and how words break at the end of a line.
- Compounding in Depth (and Linking Elements)B1 — How German welds nouns into single words — the head-final rule that sets gender and plural, the stacking of modifiers, and the linking elements (Fugen) that glue the parts together.