10.6 Vocabulary: The weather-2

Notes on nouns

1. To specify which type of shower you are experiencing, form a compound noun using "der Schauer":

 

"der Hagel" + "der Schauer" = "der Hagelschauer" (brief hailstorm)

"der Regen" + "der Schauer" = "der Regenschauer" (shower of rain)

"der Schnee" + "der Schauer" = "der Schneeschauer" (snow shower)

Similar compounds can also be made with "der Sturm". As with all compound nouns, such nouns have the gender of the final element of the compound noun, and form the plural in the same way as this final element:

 

"der Hagel" + "der Sturm" = "der Hagelsturm" (hailstorm)

"das Gewitter" + "der Sturm" = "der Gewittersturm" (thunderstorm)

"der Schnee" + "der Sturm" = "der Schneesturm" (snowstorm)

2. wheras English speaks of "temperature" in the singular, German uses the word almost exclusively in the plural - "die Temperaturen". This is also true of the other compounds of the noun which we have met in this chapter: "die Höchsttemperaturen" (highest temperature) and "die Tiefsttemperaturen" (lowest temperature).

 

3. We have also encountered some other words in this section's conversations wher the usage of singular and plural is different from in English:

 

"die Hausaufgaben" (plural) = homework (singular)

"die Hose" (singular) = trousers (plural)

"der Schlafanzug" (singular) = pyjamas (plural)