The Genitive case in German
The 2nd of German’s four cases is called “Genitiv” (genitive). It’s used to show possession, so we can also call it the “case of possession”. In English, it’s usually expressed by “of” or an apostrophe-s (’s).
Nowadays, German speakers use it more in the written than in the spoken form, but it definitely has a certain spoken elegance and shouldn’t be neglected. :)
A helpful question to find out what part of the sentence stands in the genitive case is: “Wessen?” - “Whose?”:
Example: Ich lese Susannes Buch. I read Susanne’s book.
WESSEN Buch liest du? WHOSE book do you read? - Susannes. Susanne’s.
Rules for the genitive case:
a) Add an -s- to names - just like the apostrophe-s in English!
Example: Peters Hund heißt Pluto. Peter’s dog is called Pluto.
b) When there’s an article, adjust it like this:
definite (= the): der -> des (-en) ; die -> der; das -> des; Plural die -> deren
indefinite (= a, an): ein -> eines; eine -> einer; ein -> eines;
Example: Das Haar des Mädchens ist blond. The girl’s hair is blonde.
c) When an adjective stands with the noun adjust it - fortunately almost all of them have an -en ending.
Example: der großen Frau (of the tall woman); einer freundlichen Frau (of a friendly woman)
d) For masculine and neuter nouns, remember the additional noun ending, either -es or -s.
Example: des großen Mannes (of the tall man); eines freundlichen Kindes (of a friendly child)
Note: Some prepositions trigger the Genitive. I’ll post a list of them soon.
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