The Rule
All nouns in German are capitalized. This applies to:
- common nouns (everyday objects, concepts)
- proper nouns (names of people, places)
- nouns derived from other parts of speech (infinitives, adjectives used as nouns)
Examples
| German | English |
|---|---|
| das Buch | the book |
| die Schule | the school |
| der Tisch | the table |
| das Essen | the eating / the food |
| das Schwimmen | the swimming |
| das Gute | the good (thing) |
Contrast with English
In English, most common nouns are lowercase:
- the table → German: der Tisch
- school is fun → German: die Schule macht Spaß
Spotting nouns in a sentence
Capitalization helps you quickly identify nouns in a German sentence:
Das Mädchen liest ein Buch über die Natur. The girl reads a book about nature.
Here Mädchen, Buch, Natur are all nouns — you can spot them immediately by their capital letters.
Nationalities and languages
Nationalities used as adjectives are not capitalized in German (unlike English):
- Sie spricht deutsch. (She speaks German.) — adjective/adverb
- Sie lernt die deutsche Sprache. (She learns the German language.) — adjective
- Er ist Deutscher. (He is a German.) — noun, so capitalized
Real world: German street signs and public notices
Every German street name capitalizes the noun: „Hauptstraße", „Bahnhofsweg", „Marktplatz". Official notices use the same rule: „Achtung: Einbahnstraße!" — both Achtung (attention) and Einbahnstraße (one-way street) are capitalized as nouns.
Real world: menus and product packaging
A German café menu writes: „Kaffee 2,50 €, Tee 2,00 €, Kuchen des Tages 3,00 €" — every item is capitalized because every item is a noun. Product packaging also follows the rule: „Vollmilch 3,5% Fett", „Brot aus Sauerteig".
Real world: German text messages and social media
Even in informal German texting, nouns stay capitalized: „Hast du Lust, heute Pizza zu essen?" (Fancy pizza today?) — Lust (desire) and Pizza are both nouns, both capitalized. This makes spotting nouns in a German text much easier than in English!
Capitalization is your best friend when reading German. Scan a sentence for capital letters to find the nouns instantly — this is especially useful when you encounter a long compound word like Hauptbahnhof (main train station): the capital H tells you immediately it is a noun.
Practice Problems
Is Tisch a noun? How do you write it in a sentence?
Show answer
Correct the capitalization: die schule ist groß.
Show answer
Correct the capitalization: Das Kind Spielt.
Show answer
Spot the nouns: Der junge Mann kauft frisches Brot.