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German Compound Words – Correct Spelling

It’s often a very confusing issue: correct German spelling when it comes to compound words (and Germans do love their compounds!).

This week we’ll have a look at some rules concerning words of foreign (mostly English) origin.

1. If a compound is made up of 2 nouns, the first word and all the noun parts are capitalized and the parts are linked by a hyphen (-)
e.g.
die Follow-up-Studie
das Open-Air-Kino

2. Nouns consisting of a verb and an adverb are written with a hyphen or together, especially if the English word is written together too
e.g.
das Feed-back or Feedback
das Fall-out or Fallout

3. Compounds made up of an adjective and a noun should usually be written together
e.g.
das/die Hightech
der Smalltalk (but also der Small Talk)

Good luck writing correctly! And for reference go to Duden.