Von Satzbauplänen zu Nominalgruppenbauplänen

In contemporary German, nominal structures are often prefered to verbal sentences. Since it is rather common to convert main verbs into nouns by the means of derivation, verbal propositions can easily be integrated into new sentences. As the main verb‘s valency is maintained, verbal complements can be transfered into noun phrases as well – now functioning as modifiers. Thus, contemporary German offers a wide range of possibilities of transferring propositions from sentences into noun phrases. On the other hand, it seems to be easier to transfer certain types of sentence structures into nominal structures than others. The article explores the possibilities and limitations of this process on the basis of an empirical study, in which native speakers of German were asked to „translate“ sentences into noun phrases. According to the results of the study, the possibilities and limitations of the transformation of verbal sentences into nominal structures depend on the following factors: amount of complements, form of complements and modifiers, formal similarities and differences of verbal complements and nominal modifiers.