German capitalizes nouns in every position, not just at the beginning of a sentence.

der Bus
das Wasser
die Freude
der Montag
der Kurs

The idea

Verbs and adjectives used as nouns also take capitals: das Lesen, etwas Neues. An ordinary infinitive after möchten remains lowercase: Wir möchten lesen.

Patterns to compare
Form / MusterBeispiel / Gegensatz
Nomendas Brot
nominalisiertes Verbdas Lesen
nominalisiertes Adjektivetwas Neues
VerbIch lese.

Examples

  • Der Bus kommt gleich.
  • Wir trinken kaltes Wasser.
  • Das Lesen macht mir Freude.
  • Sie wünscht dir alles Gute.
  • Heute gehen wir schwimmen.
  • Am Montag beginnt der Kurs.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic German voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

An infinitive is not automatically a noun. Das Lesen has a capital because it functions as a noun; in Wir möchten lesen, lesen remains a lowercase verb.

Try it yourself

  1. Wir kaufen frisches ___. (brot / Brot)

    Show answer or example answer

    Brot

    Answer: “Brot”. The word is a noun here, so it begins with a capital letter.

  2. Das ___ hilft mir. (üben / Üben)

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    Üben

    Answer: “Üben”. The verb is used as a noun after the article, so it is capitalized.

  3. Wir möchten heute ___. (lesen / Lesen)

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    lesen

    Answer: “lesen”. This remains an ordinary infinitive, not a noun, so it is lowercase.

Use it today

Write a two-line conversation around “Der Bus kommt gleich.”. Use the target expression in your reply and make its intended meaning clear.