2

I'm thinking about what kinds of phrases I can put after "bei" as in the following example:

Sie hilft mir beim Deutsch lernen.

I never learned noun phrase constructions with infinitivals, and I'm wondering what the rules are.

user555203
  • 241
  • 1
  • 7

1 Answers1

4

The construct beim + Verb triggers the nominalization of the verb. In your example the verb is lernen and has to be capitalized as it becomes a noun. Omitting Deutsch for the moment:

Sie hilft mir beim Lernen.

In your example, there is another noun which builds a composite noun with Lernen. And as you might know, composite nouns in German are created by putting the words together. Your sentence thus becomes:

Sie hilft mir beim Deutschlernen.

So the rule for the nominalization of phrases Object + Infinitive is: put the words together, start with a capital letter. Examples:

Hecke schneiden

Spaghetti kochen

Become:

Er schwitzt beim Heckeschneiden.

Die Küche wird warm beim Spaghettikochen.

Community
  • 1
Deve
  • 3,632
  • 1
  • 21
  • 31