What do you recommend to students struggling with reading large compound words? I find that by the time I’m done trying to sound out the end of the word I’ve forgotten the beginning of it. I get lost in where each part of the compound starts/stops and basically have to go sort through the word like a puzzle.
hi! that's a tough question BUT I'd suggest starting with the end of the word! ✨
The last part of a composite word is what determines the word type (noun, verb, ...) (and if applicable: the grammatical gender)
for composite words there's two major types of compositions: coordinating and subordinating
In coordinating composites, two+ parts of the word are equal
in "schwarzweiß", 'black' and 'white' are of equal "importance", they're on the same level;
Subordinating composites have a "head" though, the last part:
"Haustür" is certainly a door, haus- just gives you the type (front door (of a house))
"Gartenschere" is certainly a scissor, Garten- gives you the type (scissors for cutting plants)
🌿
a large amount of composites are subordinating, which is why I'd suggest starting at the back, finding the head (the base, if you will) and building up from there. If only the last part(s) (unfortunately with long composites the last couple of parts are critical) make(s) sense to you, you lose less information than if the same goes for the start:
- Die Fahrradwerkstatt ist geschlossen -> # The bike-- is closed (?) vs. the (a type of) --workshop is closed
- Die Weltkarte hängt an der Wand. -> # the world-- is on the wall (?) vs. the (a type of) --map is on the wall
- Die Box, die ich suche, ist grasgrün -> # The box I'm looking for is grass-- (?) vs. the box I'm looking for is (a type of) --green
Try starting from the back of the word until you think you've identified a whole world/unit of meaning. Then check if by only saying "a type of [word]" the sentence makes sense. if not, expand the word (maybe it was not "seher" (seer) but "fernseher" (tv) etc.)
i hope this helps a little!!! 🌱
