Re: German question: Bundesgesundheitsamt

Philip Newton wrote:

>Weiben Wang wrote:
>
>>  I have a niggly question about German grammar which I
>>  hope is appropriate to ask here.  I was asked why you
>>  add the S's in "Bundesgesundheitsamt."  At first I
>>  thought they were some kind of genitive, ie. der Bund,
>>  des Bundes.  But then Gesundheit is feminine, and
>>  doesn't take an "s", ie. die Gesundheit, der
>>  Gesundheit.  So, where do the S's come from?  I
>>  presume there's a better explanation than simply,
>>  "That's just how it works." Does anyone have a proper
>>  explanation?  TIA,
>
>Something like that. To make things sound better. Sometimes an -n- is
>also used, though I can't think of an example right now.

Orangensaft?

Seems to me I read somewhere some *general* guidelines (like what
Andreas outlined for Swedish), which made whether to add -s-, -n-, or
nothing seem a little less capricious. It was a mini "aha" moment,
but I have since forgotten the "rules" and don't remember where I
read them. Hence, I still have to revert to the "just learn it"
school. If I can find that text in the next few days, I'll pass the
info along.

Kou