B2-3 · Turning activities into nouns
Happiness
Use nominalised infinitives to discuss everyday well-being and a fictional happiness survey.
About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions
01
Name the activity
Lea keeps a diary of moments she enjoys. German can turn an infinitive into a noun: lachen becomes das Lachen. The new noun is neuter and starts with a capital letter.
Das Lachen mit Freunden macht Lea glücklich.
Laughing with friends makes Lea happy.
Das Lesen gibt ihrem Abend einen ruhigen Rhythmus.
Reading gives her evening a calm rhythm.
Regelmäßiges Spazierengehen gehört zu ihrem Alltag.
Regular walking is part of her everyday life.
Sie unterscheidet zwischen Glück und Zufriedenheit.
She distinguishes between happiness and contentment.
A nominalised infinitive names an activity as a whole. Compare Ich lese gern with Das Lesen macht mir Freude. In the second sentence, Lesen is the subject.
02
Notice the case around the noun
The noun keeps the infinitive form while articles and adjectives show case. Beim combines bei and dem. Zum combines zu and dem. Both put the activity in the dative.
Beim Lesen vergisst Lea die Zeit.
Lea loses track of time while reading.
Am Wochenende hat sie Zeit zum Ausschlafen.
At the weekend, she has time to sleep in.
Sie genießt das gemeinsame Kochen.
She enjoys cooking together.
Nach dem Schwimmen fühlt sie sich ausgeglichen.
After swimming, she feels balanced.
Beim Lesen describes what happens while reading. Zeit zum Lesen means time available for reading. The article changes with the surrounding phrase; Lesen itself does not.
03
Read a small happiness survey
In a fictional class project, Lea asks what gives people pleasure. Her results describe this group, not everyone. The examples use nominalised activities to talk about answers without making health claims.
In unserer Umfrage steht das Zusammensein an erster Stelle.
In our survey, being together ranks first.
Beim Vergleichen der Antworten fallen Unterschiede auf.
Differences stand out when comparing the answers.
Viele nennen das gemeinsame Essen als schönen Moment.
Many name eating together as a lovely moment.
Das Warten auf die Ergebnisse fällt Lea schwer.
Lea finds waiting for the results difficult.
Nominalisation lets you compare activities as subjects or objects. It does not make a personal observation a scientific finding. Keep the scope visible with phrases such as in unserer Umfrage.
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