To avoid the use of hyphens, Spanish often uses phrases in place of single words, such tigre que come hombres (man-eating tiger). For the majority of its translations for the equivalent of English compound nouns, Spanish relies on the preposition ‘de’ to function as a bridge between words, such as the following word for iceberg: la montaña de hielo (que flota en los mares del norte) =  the mountain of ice (that floats in the seas of the North).

Specially constructed compound nouns

An interesting subcategory of compound nouns in Spanish exists in which the third person singular of the present tense of the verb  is coupled with a plural noun. These nouns are nearly always masculine in gender and form the plural by simply changing the article. As in the word for can opener, singular: el abrelatas,  plural: los abrelatas. Some of these specially designed compounds are for items around the house, tools and parts of the car while others are more figurative and even humorous. Here is a sampling:

abrelatas — can opener (it opens cans)

calentalibros — bookworm (he/she warms books)

comecocos — something that confuses or brainwashes (it eats coconuts)

cuidaniños — babysitter (he/she cares for children)

cumpleaños — birthday (it fulfills years)

espantapájaros — scarecrow (it scares birds)

lavaplatos — dishwasher (it washes dishes)

matafuegos — fire extinguisher (it kills fires)

matasanos — medical quack (he/she kills healthy people)

parabrisas — windshield (it stops breezes)

parachoques — bumper (it stops crashes)

paraguas* — umbrella (it stops water) *the extra ‘a’ has been dropped

picapleitos — shyster lawyer (he/she encourages lawsuits)

quitamotas — flatterer (he/she removes defects)

quitasol — sunshade (it removes the sun)

rascacielos — skyscraper (it scratches skies)

rompecabezas — puzzle (it breaks heads)

salvavidas — lifeguard, various safety devices (it saves lives)

tragamonedas — slot machine, vending machine (it swallows coins)

One unique feature of the German language is its ability to create extremely long compound nouns. While this can seem daunting at first, it’s simply a matter of breaking down the noun into its component parts to understand its meaning. For example, Busfahrerin (Bus + fahrer + in). The first word here shows the mode of transport, the second the action (fahren = to drive), and finally the female suffix (-in) shows the gender of the driver.

German compound nouns can take one of numerous formats:

1. nouns only: der Milchmann

2. adjective + noun: die Großmutter

3. verb stem + noun: die Waschmaschine

4. Preposition + noun: die Vorlesung

Learning to interpret compound nouns:

Here is an example of a long compound noun in German:

das Fussballweltmeisterschaftsqualifikationsspiel

2. Now let us translate the independent parts:

foot-ball-world-master-ship-qualification-game

3. Now let us translate into English:

World Cup soccer qualifying game!

4. Now try to translate the following compound nouns into English:

die Blumentopferde

die Gutenachtgeschichte

die Rufnummernanzeige

der Organspenderausweis