Schreiben macht mir Spaß.

to make

Breakdown of Schreiben macht mir Spaß.

• der Spaß: the fun
• mir: me
• das Schreiben: the writing

Questions & Answers about Schreiben macht mir Spaß.

What are the grammatical roles of each word in Schreiben macht mir Spaß?

• Schreiben – a noun (nominalized verb) meaning writing. It is the subject of the sentence.
• macht – 3rd person singular of machen (to make/do). It is the main verb.
• mir – 1st person singular dative pronoun (to me / for me). It shows who enjoys it.
• Spaß – noun meaning fun. It is the object of the verb machen.

A fairly literal structure is:
Writing makes (to) me fun. → Writing is fun for me.

Why is Schreiben capitalized?

In German, all nouns are capitalized.

Here, Schreiben is not functioning as a verb; it has been turned into a noun (this is called Nominalisierung, or nominalization). When an infinitive verb is used as a noun in German, it is:

• capitalized: Schreiben
• neuter: das Schreiben (if you add an article)

So Schreiben macht mir Spaß literally uses Schreiben as a noun: (The) writing is fun for me.

Is Schreiben here a verb or a noun? Is it like an English gerund?