German prefers to fuse words into long solid compounds, so you might expect the hyphen to play almost no role. In fact the hyphen (der Bindestrich) does very specific, well-defined jobs — and one of them, the suspended hyphen, is a tidy device that English simply does not have. Separately, German has clear rules for word division at the end of a line (Silbentrennung), and the 1996 reform changed several of them. This page covers both: the hyphen as a connector inside text, and the hyphen as a line-break marker.
The suspended hyphen: German's elegant shortcut
When two or more compounds share one element, German lets you write the shared element only once and mark the omission in the others with a hanging hyphen. Vorteile und Nachteile (advantages and disadvantages) collapses to Vor- und Nachteile. The hyphen after Vor- says: "the rest of this word is the same as the next one's." English has no comparable move — we are stuck repeating "advantages and disadvantages" or, at best, writing "pros and cons."
Wir sollten die Vor- und Nachteile genau abwägen.
We should weigh the advantages and disadvantages carefully. — Vor- stands in for Vorteile, sharing -teile with Nachteile.
Im Regal stehen Kinder- und Jugendbücher.
There are children's and young-adult books on the shelf. — Kinder- and Jugend- share the head -bücher.
Bitte den Hauptschalter zum Ein- und Ausschalten benutzen.
Please use the main switch to turn on and off. — Ein- and Aus- share -schalten.
The shared element can come at the front instead of the back, in which case the hanging hyphen leads:
Das Geschäft betreibt An- und Verkauf von Antiquitäten.
The shop deals in the buying and selling of antiques. — An- and Ver- share the head -kauf.
Vor- und Nachteile works because both end in -teile. You could not write Vor- und Nachmittag to mean "Vormittag und Nachmittag" — well, you can, and that one is fine — but you could never abbreviate two words that don't actually share a string.Hyphens for clarity: long, awkward, or vowel-clashing compounds
German fuses compounds solid by default, but a hyphen is allowed — sometimes recommended — when fusing would create an unreadable or confusing string. There are three classic triggers.
Long, multi-part compounds can take a hyphen at the main seam to help the eye:
Sie verkaufen eine neue Mehrzweck-Küchenmaschine.
They sell a new multi-purpose kitchen appliance. — a hyphen at the seam aids legibility of a long compound.
Clashing identical vowels at the join often get a hyphen so the reader doesn't misread the double letter:
Möchtest du ein Tee-Ei für losen Tee?
Would you like a tea egg (infuser) for loose tea? — Tee + Ei would clash; the hyphen separates them.
Wir machten an dieser Stelle einen Schluss-Strich.
At this point we drew a line under it (called it a day). — Schluss + Strich, three s's at the seam; the hyphen clarifies.
You will also meet See-Elefant (elephant seal) for the same reason — Seeelefant with three e's is permitted but hard to read, so the hyphen is the kinder choice. Note that the reform's rule that no letter is dropped at a compound seam (so Schifffahrt keeps three f's, Stofffetzen three f's) is exactly what makes the optional clarity hyphen so welcome.
Hyphens with abbreviations, letters, and numbers
A hyphen is obligatory when a compound contains an abbreviation, a single letter, or a figure, because these elements cannot be fused into running text.
Die UNO-Truppen wurden abgezogen.
The UN troops were withdrawn. — an abbreviation in a compound takes a hyphen.
Beim 100-Meter-Lauf stürzte der Favorit.
The favourite fell in the 100-metre sprint. — figures plus units are hyphenated through the whole chain.
Das Stück ist in A-Dur geschrieben.
The piece is written in A major. — a single capital letter joined to a word takes a hyphen.
Wir bieten 100-prozentigen Schutz.
We offer 100-percent protection. — a figure joined to a word is hyphenated.
Word division at the end of a line (Silbentrennung)
When a word won't fit and you break it across a line, German divides by syllable, inserting a hyphen at the break. Most of the rules are intuitive — Freun-din, Som-mer, tre-ten — but three points trip people up, and two of them changed in the reform.
ck is no longer split. Before the reform, Zucker broke as Zuk-ker; now it stays together and breaks as Zu-cker. The same goes for ba-cken, le-cker.
Ich brauche noch ein Kilo Zu-cker.
I still need a kilo of sugar. — ck stays together; the break is Zu-cker, not the old Zuk-ker.
st may now be split. The old rule "never break st" (Fenster as Fen-ster) was abolished; st now breaks like any other consonant cluster: Fens-ter, Kis-te, bes-te.
Er saß stundenlang am Fens-ter.
He sat by the window for hours. — st may now be divided: Fens-ter.
Don't strand a single vowel. A single vowel letter may not be left alone at the start of a word or carried over by itself. Abend is not broken A-bend, Ofen is not broken O-fen, and über is not broken ü-ber — even though each lone vowel is its own spoken syllable. (A double vowel or diphthong is fine, because it is more than one letter: Aa-le, Ei-sen, Eu-le all divide normally.)
Finally, compounds break preferentially at the seam. Given a choice, divide a compound where its parts meet rather than mid-element: Bücher-schrank is preferred over Büch-erschrank.
In der Ecke steht ein alter Bücher-schrank.
An old bookcase stands in the corner. — break compounds at the seam: Bücher-schrank.
Common Mistakes
❌ Wir sollten Vorteile und Nachteile abwägen, statt nur Vorteile zu sehen.
Not wrong, but it misses German's neat device — repeating the shared head needlessly.
✅ Wir sollten Vor- und Nachteile abwägen.
We should weigh up pros and cons. — use the suspended hyphen for the shared -teile.
❌ Sie ist eine erfahrene Kinder-Buch-Autorin.
Incorrect — over-hyphenating an ordinary, readable compound.
✅ Sie ist eine erfahrene Kinderbuchautorin.
She's an experienced children's-book author. — fuse readable compounds solid; reserve hyphens for awkward seams.
❌ Wir buchen einen 100 Meter Lauf für die Sportwoche.
Incorrect — leaving figure-plus-unit compounds unhyphenated.
✅ Wir buchen einen 100-Meter-Lauf für die Sportwoche.
We're booking a 100-metre race for sports week. — hyphenate through the whole figure-unit-noun chain.
❌ Das Wort wird so getrennt: Zuk-ker.
Incorrect by current rules — splitting ck the old way.
✅ Das Wort wird so getrennt: Zu-cker.
The word divides like this: Zu-cker. — ck is never split since the reform.
Key Takeaways
- The suspended hyphen (
Vor- und Nachteile,An- und Verkauf,Kinder- und Jugendbücher) deletes a repeated shared element and marks the gap — a device English lacks. - Use a clarity hyphen for long compounds (
Mehrzweck-Küchenmaschine) and vowel/consonant clashes (Tee-Ei,Schluss-Strich,See-Elefant). - A hyphen is obligatory with abbreviations, letters, and figures (
UNO-Truppen,A-Dur,100-Meter-Lauf,100-prozentig). - For end-of-line division: split by syllable, don't split
ck(Zu-cker), you may splitst(Fens-ter), never strand a single letter, and break compounds at the seam.
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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.
- Compound vs Separate Writing (Getrennt- und Zusammenschreibung)B1 — When German writes word combinations as one solid word versus two separate words — noun compounds, verb combinations, and the meaning-dependent cases.
- 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.
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- Spelling Foreign Words and AnglicismsB2 — How German spells loanwords and English borrowings: every borrowed noun is capitalized, the -s plural and y→ys, germanized variants (Foto/Photo, Delfin/Delphin), and how English verbs get German conjugation.