Noun phrases are things like “of the red tree”: Whole phrases that can be referred to by “this”, “it”, etc. Backpfeifengesicht ist very much a compound noun, “punchable face” is not, “schlagbares Gesicht” neither, both are noun phrases. “cuffearface” is a compound noun, no matter how many spaces and hyphens you add to it.
In English there is a clear difference between a compound word and a noun phrase. A compound word is a word that has two other words making up its parts which has a slightly, or completely different meaning from its parts. A noun phrase is a collection of words that make up an item, like ‘I found the owner of the dog’ ‘the owner of the dog’ is a noun phrase. In German it is, likely, expressed as a single unbroken string. It doesn’t exactly mean that the Germans have a word for ‘the owner of the dog’ it’s just the way they write noun phrases.
A noun phrase is a collection of words that make up an item, like ‘I found the owner of the dog’ ‘the owner of the dog’ is a noun phrase. In German it is, likely, expressed as a single unbroken string.
You can say “Ich fand [den Besitzer des Hundes]” or Ich fand [den Hundebesitzer]". In both cases the bracket part is the noun phrase. “Besitzer” and “Hund” are nouns, “Hundebesitzer” is a compound noun.
It’s the difference between “I found [the owner of the dog]” and “I found [the dog owner]”: “dog owner” very much, very much is a compound noun, and again brackets are noun phrases.
This kind of thing is a universal feature of Germanic languages and English, believe it or not, despite getting hit over the head by the French and pilfering vocabulary from all over the world, is still a Germanic language.
German may tend towards compound nouns more than English, but, at least in colloquial speech, not by much I’d say. Where it really goes all-in is in bureaucratic and technical registers.
Oh, for the record: “noun phrase” is a compound noun. So is “compound noun”.
Noun phrases are things like “of the red tree”: Whole phrases that can be referred to by “this”, “it”, etc. Backpfeifengesicht ist very much a compound noun, “punchable face” is not, “schlagbares Gesicht” neither, both are noun phrases. “cuffearface” is a compound noun, no matter how many spaces and hyphens you add to it.
In English there is a clear difference between a compound word and a noun phrase. A compound word is a word that has two other words making up its parts which has a slightly, or completely different meaning from its parts. A noun phrase is a collection of words that make up an item, like ‘I found the owner of the dog’ ‘the owner of the dog’ is a noun phrase. In German it is, likely, expressed as a single unbroken string. It doesn’t exactly mean that the Germans have a word for ‘the owner of the dog’ it’s just the way they write noun phrases.
There’s also a clear distinction in German.
You can say “Ich fand [den Besitzer des Hundes]” or Ich fand [den Hundebesitzer]". In both cases the bracket part is the noun phrase. “Besitzer” and “Hund” are nouns, “Hundebesitzer” is a compound noun.
It’s the difference between “I found [the owner of the dog]” and “I found [the dog owner]”: “dog owner” very much, very much is a compound noun, and again brackets are noun phrases.
This kind of thing is a universal feature of Germanic languages and English, believe it or not, despite getting hit over the head by the French and pilfering vocabulary from all over the world, is still a Germanic language.
German may tend towards compound nouns more than English, but, at least in colloquial speech, not by much I’d say. Where it really goes all-in is in bureaucratic and technical registers.
Oh, for the record: “noun phrase” is a compound noun. So is “compound noun”.