What's good to know
Nominalisation simply means that one creates nouns out of non-nouns. This can be achieved by
1. ADDING -ER / -E TO AN ADJECTIVE ==> PERSON
unbekannt - unknown
ein Unbekannt.er - a male unknown person
eine Unbekannt.e - a female unknown person
angestellt - employed
ein Angestellt.er - a male employee
eine Angestellt.e - a female employee
verwandt - related
ein Verwandt.er - a male relative
eine Verwandt.e - a female relative
deutsch - German
ein Deutsch.er - a male German
eine Deutsch.e - a female German
>>> QUICK PRACTICE
How would you nominalize the following adjectives according to the principles above and how would you translate the new noun? Share your answers or other examples in the comments:
1A: vertraut - familiar
2A: geliebt - beloved
3A: verrückt - crazy
4A: krank - ill
5A: reich - rich
2. ADDING A PREPOSITION TO A VERB
arbeiten - to work
Ich bin am Arbeiten - I am working
üben - to practice
Durch Üben wird man besser. - By practicing one gets better.
nachdenken - to reflect
Ich habe keine Zeit zum Nachdenken - I don't have time for reflection.
>>> QUICK PRACTICE
How would you nominalize the following adjectives according to the principles above and how would you translate the new noun? Build a short sentence with the new noun. The preposition "am" works most of the time with verbs that express an activity. "durch" would mean "by doing" something and "zum" here means "in order to". Focus on these three prepositions for now. Share your answers or other examples in the comment
1B: essen - to eat
2B: arbeiten - to work
3B: telefonieren - to be on the phone
4B: entspannen - to relax
5B: trainieren - to work out
This topic is covered in: B2-L18