German's compound nouns (see German Vocabulary) look intimidating but are actually one of the more logical parts of German vocabulary once you approach them correctly.
When you meet a long compound word, actively break it into its component parts and translate each one before combining them — this build-it-yourself approach creates a transferable skill, unlike memorizing the whole word as one unfamiliar block.
Certain words (Zeit, Haus, Schein, and others) appear constantly as components in many different compounds — learning these specifically as "building block" vocabulary pays off across dozens of compound words at once.
A German compound noun takes the gender of its final component, not an average or combination of all its parts — learn this rule explicitly rather than guessing based on the compound's first element.
Occasionally try constructing a plausible (even if imperfect) compound word from two nouns you already know — this active production practice reinforces the pattern more than passive recognition alone.
See also the reference page: German Vocabulary.
Actively break it into its component parts and translate each one before combining them, rather than trying to memorize the whole word as one unfamiliar block.
Yes — words like Zeit, Haus, and Schein appear constantly as components across many different compounds, so learning them specifically as "building block" vocabulary pays off broadly.
The final component — a compound takes the gender of its last element, not an average or combination of all the parts, which is worth learning explicitly rather than guessing.
Yes — occasionally constructing a plausible compound from nouns you already know is active production practice that reinforces the pattern more than passive recognition alone.