GrammarB2· Engagement & Ehrenamt
Nominalisierte Adjektive und Partizipien
Adjectives and participles as nouns
Kartoffel · your teacher
Hi! Let's look at this one together — step by step, no rush.
From what you know
ein freiwilliger Helferbecomesein Freiwilliger6 parts · about 6 min
1What & when
In one line
In one lineUsed as a noun, an adjective gets a capital letter but keeps : ein Freiwilliger.
1
Before
Ein freiwilliger Helfer holt die Spenden ab.
Watch the sentence change …
The noun Helfer drops out. freiwilliger becomes the noun Freiwilliger: a capital letter, but still the ending -er.
„Ein Freiwilliger holt die Spenden ab.“ — A volunteer collects the donations.
Kartoffel
First, what is it?
Many German words for people are really adjectives. der Freiwillige (the volunteer) comes from freiwillig. Others come from , verb forms like angestellt or reisend: die Angestellte, die Reisenden. Like all nouns, they start with a capital letter. But they keep the endings of an adjective. So the ending changes with the and the case: der Freiwillige, ein Freiwilliger, die Freiwilligen, viele Freiwillige. Ideas work the same way, in the : das Gute, etwas Neues.
Kartoffel
And when do you need it? More often than you'd think:
Engagement & EhrenamtYou need it to talk about people by what they are or do: at the food bank, in a club, at work. – You also need it for ideas and for things you don't name: –
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