This paper aims to describe Substantivwörter ’noun’ in German. Substantivwörter can
be: (1) Artikelwort ’article’, (2) Adjetiv vor sich ’adjective modifying a noun’, (3) ein
weiteres Substantiv (als Attribut im Genetiv oder Präpositionalkasus) ’nominal
functioning as an attribute in a genetive’, and (4) substantivische Pronomina
’substantive pronoun’. There are six types of Substantivische Pronomina, i.e.:
Personalpronomen ’personal pronoun’ such as Ich, du, er; Interrogativpronomen
’interrogative pronoun’ such as wer, was, and welche; Demonstrativpronomen
’demonstrative pronoun’ (dieser, jener, and ein solcher); Indefinitpronomen ’indefinite
pronoun’ (einige, mache, and allen); Possesivpronomen ’possessive pronoun’ (wessen
and wem); and Relativpronomen ’relative pronoun’ (ein Bild replaced by es or das).
Substantivwörter function to express (1) Gattungsnamen and (2) Eigenamen.
Gattungsnamen or Appelativa are used to name fruits and jobs. Gattungsnamen
function to name concrete objects such as Gold ’gold, Schnee ’snow’ and to describe
one’s characters or personality such as Härte ’hard’ and Klugheit ’smart’. Besides,
Gattungsnamen are used to express kinship relationships such as Onkel ’uncle’ and
Grossvater ’grandfather’; and (2) Eigenamen ’proper nouns’ function to express
Personennamen or to express one’s name comprising Vorname ’first name’ and
Familienname ’family name’ such as Helmut Kohl. Eigenamen are used to name a
place such as Gothes Haus, a mountain such as der Alpen, and a country such as
Deutschland. Eigenamen are also used for Produktnamen to name a building such as
Humboldt Universität, a book such as Gothes Faust, a painting such as Monalisa, a ship
such as Titanic, and a song title such as Mother John Lennon
