Nominalization is the process of turning a verb, an adjective, or a whole phrase into a noun. German does this far more freely than English, and the result reshapes how formal German sounds: instead of after he finished his studies, German writes nach Beendigung des Studiums (after completion of the studies). This page covers nominalization as a word-formation device — the substantivized infinitive, the nominalized adjective and participle, and zero-derivation — and the two rules that govern all of them: everything nominalized is capitalized, and nominalized adjectives keep their adjective endings. (For the suffix route — Bildung, Freiheit — see the noun-suffixes page; for the prose style it enables, see Nominalstil.)
The substantivized infinitive: any verb → a neuter activity-noun
This is German's most productive nominalization, and the one with the cleanest payoff. Take any infinitive, capitalize it, and put a neuter article in front — you now have a noun naming the activity.
| Verb | Nominalized infinitive | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| lesen (to read) | das Lesen | reading (the activity) |
| schwimmen (to swim) | das Schwimmen | swimming |
| essen (to eat) | das Essen | eating; also "the meal/food" |
| joggen (to jog) | das Joggen | jogging |
| warten (to wait) | das Warten | the waiting |
The article is always das (neuter), no matter what the verb is. The resulting noun names the activity in the abstract — closest to the English -ing gerund. It appears constantly after the prepositions beim (while), zum (for the purpose of), and vom.
Beim Kochen höre ich am liebsten Podcasts.
While cooking, I like best to listen to podcasts.
Zum Schwimmen brauchst du eine Badekappe.
For swimming you need a swimming cap.
Das ständige Warten an der Kasse nervt mich.
The constant waiting at the checkout annoys me.
What makes this so powerful is that it is fully productive and unbounded: you can nominalize not just single verbs but entire phrases, hyphenating them into one big neuter noun.
Das ewige In-die-Schule-Gehen empfand er als Last.
The endless going-to-school he experienced as a burden.
English handles this unevenly — the going-to-school is barely grammatical, while German's das In-die-Schule-Gehen is stylistically marked but entirely well-formed. This is the distinguishing insight: when you need a noun for an activity and don't know a ready-made one, you can manufacture one on demand from the infinitive.
Nominalized adjectives and participles: capitalized AND declined
The second major route turns an adjective or participle into a noun. Two things happen at once, and forgetting either is the classic learner slip:
- The word is capitalized (it's now a noun).
- It still takes the adjective ending that its grammatical context demands — it declines exactly as it would if a noun still followed it.
Think of it as an adjective whose noun has been deleted but whose ending survives. der gute [Mensch] → der Gute (the good one); ein kranker [Mann] → ein Kranker (a sick man).
| Context | Form (from krank) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| after der (nom. masc.) | der Kranke | the sick man (weak ending -e) |
| after ein (nom. masc.) | ein Kranker | a sick man (mixed ending -er) |
| dative after dem | dem Kranken | to the sick man (-en) |
| plural after die | die Kranken | the sick (people) |
So the ending changes with case, gender, and the preceding article, exactly like a normal attributive adjective. This is the part English has no equivalent for at all — English just says the sick, a sick person, with no inflection.
Der Bekannte von gestern hat sich noch nicht gemeldet.
The acquaintance from yesterday hasn't gotten in touch yet.
Ein Reisender hatte seinen Koffer im Zug vergessen.
A traveler had forgotten his suitcase on the train.
Alle Angestellten bekommen dieses Jahr eine Prämie.
All the employees are getting a bonus this year.
Nationality and language adjectives nominalize the same way: deutsch → der Deutsche / ein Deutscher / die Deutschen (a German person, the Germans). Note the declension: der Deutsche but ein Deutscher.
Als Deutscher musst du dich erst an das frühe Abendessen gewöhnen.
As a German, you first have to get used to the early dinner.
Abstract neuter nominalizations: das Gute, das Wichtigste
Adjectives can also nominalize as neuter abstractions — "the X thing" / "what is X": das Gute (the good, what's good), das Wichtigste (the most important thing), das Schöne (the beautiful part). After etwas, nichts, viel, wenig, the adjective is capitalized and takes the strong neuter ending -es:
Gibt es etwas Neues von der Bewerbung?
Is there anything new about the application?
Das Schönste am Urlaub war, mal nichts zu müssen.
The best thing about the vacation was not having to do anything.
Zero-derivation: a noun with no suffix at all
The third route is the subtlest: German derives a noun directly from a verb stem with no added suffix, often with an internal vowel change (ablaut). The verb stem simply becomes a noun.
| Verb | Zero-derived noun | Type |
|---|---|---|
| springen (to jump) | der Sprung | the jump (result/instance) |
| fallen (to fall) | der Fall | the fall / the case |
| werfen (to throw) | der Wurf | the throw |
| gehen (to go) | der Gang | the walk / the gear / the corridor |
| sprechen (to speak) | der Spruch | the saying |
These contrast neatly with the suffix-derived agent and result nouns built from the same root: from sprechen you get the agent der Sprecher (the speaker), the result/abstract die Sprache (the language), and the zero-derived der Spruch (the saying). Three different nouns, three different formation strategies, one verb.
Mit einem riesigen Sprung war die Katze über den Zaun.
With a huge leap the cat was over the fence.
Der Sprecher der Partei wollte sich dazu nicht äußern.
The party's spokesperson didn't want to comment on it.
Zero-derivation isn't productive on demand the way the infinitive-noun is — you can't invent der Lauf-the-instance freely — so these are best learned as established vocabulary. But recognizing the pattern helps you see the verb hiding inside a noun.
How this builds the Nominalstil
Stack these devices and you get Nominalstil — the noun-heavy register of bureaucratic, legal, and academic German. Verbal clauses get squeezed into noun phrases:
| Verbal style | Nominal style |
|---|---|
| nachdem er studiert hatte | nach dem Studium / nach Abschluss des Studiums |
| weil die Preise gestiegen sind | wegen des Anstiegs der Preise |
| damit die Lage besser wird | zur Verbesserung der Lage |
Nach Beendigung des Studiums ging sie sofort ins Ausland.
After completing her studies, she went abroad immediately.
Zur Verbesserung der Luftqualität wurde der Verkehr eingeschränkt.
To improve air quality, traffic was restricted.
Nominalstil is (formal) and (academic); in everyday speech it sounds stiff and overwrought. The full treatment lives on the Nominalstil page — what matters here is recognizing that nominalization is the engine driving it.
Distinguishing the three routes from suffix derivation
Keep the strategies straight. Suffix derivation (covered on the noun-suffixes page) adds -ung, -heit, -keit, -er and so on: untersuchen → die Untersuchung (the investigation), a feminine result/process noun. That's a different device from the three on this page:
- Substantivized infinitive: das Untersuchen (the activity of investigating) — neuter, names the ongoing action.
- -ung nominalization: die Untersuchung (the investigation, the result) — feminine, names the result/instance.
- Zero-derivation: not all verbs have one; where they do, it's a lexicalized noun.
The infinitive-noun and the -ung noun can both exist for one verb with a meaning split: das Untersuchen stresses the activity, die Untersuchung the concrete examination/result.
Common Mistakes
❌ beim kochen höre ich gern musik.
Incorrect — the nominalized infinitive must be capitalized.
✅ Beim Kochen höre ich gern Musik.
While cooking I like to listen to music.
Once an infinitive becomes a noun it is capitalized: das Kochen, das Schwimmen, das Lesen. The same applies to nominalized adjectives.
❌ Ein Deutsche hat mir den Weg erklärt.
Incorrect — the nominalized adjective must take the ending its context requires.
✅ Ein Deutscher hat mir den Weg erklärt.
A German showed me the way.
After ein (mixed declension, nom. masc.) the ending is -er: ein Deutscher. After der it would be der Deutsche. The ending is not optional — it follows full adjective declension.
❌ Gibt es etwas neue von ihm?
Incorrect — after etwas, the adjective is capitalized and takes -es.
✅ Gibt es etwas Neues von ihm?
Is there anything new from him?
After etwas/nichts/viel/wenig, the adjective nominalizes to a neuter noun with the strong ending -es: etwas Neues, nichts Gutes.
❌ Ich freue mich auf das Treffen mit den Angestellte.
Incorrect — dative plural of a nominalized adjective ends in -en.
✅ Ich freue mich auf das Treffen mit den Angestellten.
I'm looking forward to the meeting with the employees.
Nominalized adjectives decline in the plural and in every case: die Angestellten (nom.), den Angestellten (dat.). They never freeze into a single form.
❌ Nach dem ich gegessen hatte, machte ich einen Spaziergang.
Incorrect — nachdem is one word; this also shows where the verbal style is fine.
✅ Nach dem Essen machte ich einen Spaziergang.
After the meal I went for a walk.
The nominal version nach dem Essen (after the meal) uses the nominalized infinitive das Essen; the verbal alternative is the conjunction nachdem (one word) plus a finite clause. Don't confuse the preposition + noun with the conjunction.
Key Takeaways
- Any infinitive can become a neuter, capitalized activity-noun (das Lesen, das Schwimmen) — fully productive, even from whole phrases (das In-die-Schule-Gehen).
- Nominalized adjectives/participles are capitalized AND declined — they keep the adjective ending their case/article requires (der Kranke, ein Kranker, dem Kranken, die Angestellten).
- After etwas/nichts/viel, the adjective takes neuter -es (etwas Neues).
- Zero-derivation turns a verb stem into a noun with no suffix (springen → der Sprung), distinct from suffix derivation (untersuchen → die Untersuchung).
- Stacking these devices produces the Nominalstil of formal/academic German — a register you can dial up or down.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Word Formation: OverviewB1 — The three engines that build German's huge vocabulary from a small root stock — compounding, derivation, and conversion — and why long words are decodable, not unlearnable.
- Noun-Forming Suffixes (-ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft)B1 — The productive suffixes that build German nouns — and the gold-mine fact that each one carries a fixed gender, so the ending predicts both meaning and der/die/das.
- Nominalization: Turning Words into NounsB2 — How German turns infinitives, adjectives, and participles into nouns — and why the resulting words keep adjective endings.
- Adjectives Used as NounsB1 — Nominalized adjectives in German — der Alte, ein Deutscher, das Gute — get capitalized but keep their adjective endings, so they decline by article type.
- Capitalization of NounsA1 — Why German capitalizes every noun mid-sentence — and how to spot when an adjective, infinitive, or other word has been turned into a noun and must be capitalized too.
- Nominal Style (Nominalstil)C1 — How formal, bureaucratic, and academic German packs actions into noun phrases — converting verbs to nominalizations, building genitive chains, and judging when the nominal style helps or harms readability.