[Tex/LaTex] Hyphenation problem with \-

hyphenation

I have just encountered a strange behavior with a long german word:

\documentclass[ngerman]{article} 
\usepackage{babel}
\begin{document}

Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsumm 
\textbf{"Aquivalenzumformungen} Lorem ipsum 

Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsumm  
\textbf{"Aquivalenz\-umformungen} Lorem ipsum 

\end{document}

In the first case, the word is hyphenated as Äquivalenzum-formungen, which is grammatically correct, but not beautiful, as the word is composed (Äquivalenz + Umformungen).

To avoid this, I indicated the desired break-point with a \-, but now LaTeX prefers to leave the word in one piece and generates an Overfull \hbox.

Why does this happen? And what can I do to have correct hyphenation? (I could, of course, reformulate the sentence where the word occurs, but I dont find this a good idea.)

Thank you![enter image description here]1

Best Answer

With \textbf{"Aquivalenz\-umformungen} you define only one possible hyphenation. But the interword space will be too big if TeX tries to hyphenate at this point. Use

\begin{sloppypar}
Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsumm  
\textbf{"Aquivalenz\-umformungen} Lorem ipsum 
\end{sloppypar}

The possible stretching of the interwordspace is saved in \fontdimen3\font:

\documentclass[ngerman]{article} 
\usepackage{babel}
\begin{document}

Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsumm 
\textbf{"Aquivalenzumformungen} Lorem ipsum 

The default: \the\fontdimen3\font

the new one: \fontdimen3\font=10pt

Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsum Lorem ipsumm  
\textbf{"Aquivalenz\-umformungen} Lorem ipsum 

\end{document}

However, you should always use \emergencystetch or the sloppypar environment!