Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft is a compound word that serves as an example of the virtually unlimited compounding of nouns that is possible in many Germanic languages. According to the 1996 "Guinness Book of World Records", it is the longest word published in the German language.
Infinitive
In German it is "-en" ("sagen"), with "-eln" or "-ern" endings on a few words based on -l or -r roots ("segeln", "ändern"). The use of "zu" with infinitives is similar to English "to", but is less frequent than in English. German infinitives can form nouns, often expressing abstractions of the action, in which case they are of neuter gender: "das Essen" means "the eating", but also "the food".