Learn Hardcore German: Lesen macht Spaß.

In German, all nouns are capitalized. Here lesen (to read) is used as a nominalized infinitive—a verb form functioning as a noun—so it takes a capital letter just like any other noun.

What grammatical role does Lesen play in the sentence?

Lesen is the subject of the sentence and is in the nominative case. A nominalized infinitive can serve as a subject without needing an article.

Why isn't there an article before Lesen?

When you nominalize a verb to talk about an activity in general, you drop the article. If you wanted to refer to a specific act of reading, you could say das Lesen, but here it’s the concept of reading in general.

Why is the verb macht used instead of ist to express “is fun”?

German uses the phrase Spaß machen (literally “to make fun”) to mean “to be fun.” So instead of saying Lesen ist Spaß, you say Lesen macht Spaß.

What case is Spaß in, and why?

Spaß is the direct object of machen, so it’s in the accusative case. It’s what reading “makes.”

Why is Spaß spelled with ß, and why is it capitalized?

All German nouns are capitalized, and Spaß is no exception. The letter ß (called Eszett or sharp S) represents /s/ after a long vowel or diphthong—here after the “a:” in Spaß.

Can I rephrase this sentence as Es macht Spaß, zu lesen?

Yes. That’s an alternative structure using a dummy es as subject, followed by Spaß machen and an infinitive clause with zu. Don’t forget the comma: Es macht Spaß, zu lesen.