Learning the genitive case German is not a tough nut to crack. It only requires a basic understanding of how to use it in sentences. Even though the use of the genitive case is vanishing from native languages but it is very useful to make formal sentences look more effective. Hence, you will see that genitive forms are highly used in academic books and newspapers. Besides this, the genitive can enhance your German speaking skills by making the sentences accurate. Thus, let’slearn German genitive case, declensions and how to use them to form clear sentences.
Table of Contents
Firstly, let us understand what the genitive case is and why it is so important. Genitive case is defined as a grammatical case, which is used to show ownership, possession or relationship between the nouns. Hence, in German the genitive case is used as the second case. This is due to its placement in the declension tables. The declension table indicates the method of changing forms of adjectives, nouns, pronouns and articles to show their structural functions. Then genitive is followed by German dative cases and accusative words (third and fourth case, respectively).
To have detailed knowledge of how it works, let’s study a few examples of genitive case German:
“Johns auto ist weiß.” - John’s car is white.
“Wessen auto ist weiß?” - Whose car is white?
“John's auto”- John’s car.
“Die Tasche meiner Freundin ist rosa” – My friend’s bag is pink.
“Wessen Tasche ist rosa?” – Whose bag is pink?
“Die Tasche meiner Freundes.”- My friend’s bag.
In the above instances, you can understand how genitives are used to show a relationship of possession, like the car is owned by John. In general terms, the genitive shows belonging and can be used in the possessive form.
However, it can be used to specify a cause (Der Duft der Schokolade war überall – The fragrance of the chocolates was everywhere.), a specific part (Einige der Schüler machten Ferien - some of the students went on vacations.) and many different factors of showing how two things are related to each other. You can use an easy way to find the genitive cases in German, which is to ask wessen (whose).
Now you must be thinking, how does the genitive case actually work? So, read below to know about the usage of the genitive in both English and German.
In both German and English, the genitive indicates the connection of belonging. However, the ways of expressing possession can create differences in using the genitive in both languages. In English, you will need to put an apostrophe ("s"), but in German, you are not required to use an apostrophe.
Read on to know about what is genitive case in German and English and how they work in detail.
The genitive case is used to indicate origin, relationship and ownership between two nouns. However, you must have heard that the genitive case is the possessive case, which is not correct. Yes, this is a misleading statement.
Many people use possessive and genitive cases interchangeably, but genitive has a broader concept. This is because, besides indicating possession, it also shows a belonging relationship or ownership.
The different ways of using the genitive case are:
However, we need to learn about using genitive cases to show possession. For developing a better understanding, see an example:
“Children’s Park” – A Park for children.
Although the park is not owned by children it shows that this park is precisely made for children.
Similarly, “Franz Kafka’s books” means books written by Franz Kafka. The books are not owned by the writer, but being the writer, he owns some level of possession over the books.
Thus, there are two ways in which you can form the genitive in English.
But do you know how these genitives are used to form German sentences? If not, read on to find out how genitive works in German.
Broadly speaking, German also uses similar ways to structure sentences with genitive cases, but there’s a small difference that you will see while reading German genitive. Read below to find the minor difference:
Use of the genitive in German:
In German, you can make a genitive sentence by adding an “s” (no apostrophe) to the neutral and masculine nouns, such as in names of family members. Now, see the example: Opas Haus – Grandfather’s house (You can see there is no apostrophe in the German sentence.)
This is used when the phrase includes an adjective(s) or determiner, which is equal to “of” sentences in English. For instance:
Das Auto meines Vaters- The car of my father
Similarly, it is also used to relate to nouns which are not people, so it is not limited to the inanimate vs animate nouns in English. Below is an example for the same:
Das Dach des Hauses- The roof of the house
So by this point, you must have understood the basics of using genitive and with which forms you can use them. But there is still a lot more to know about how you can use the genitive. Let’s find out below.
Now that you have understood the structure of formulating sentences with the German genitive case, let’s see how you can use it. As you already know, it is used for reflecting belongings and links between any two nouns; it can also use with definite adjectives, prepositions and verbs.
Read on to have detailed information regarding the use of the genitive with different parts of speech.
The noun is used to represent a thing, person, place or concept. Most of the sentences include at least one noun. Thus, the genitive is utilised, as a characteristic that follows the noun to which it belongs. It helps to specify the connection between the two nouns. Such as:
“Das Fahrrad meines Großvaters war neu.” – My grandfather’s bike was new.
“Die Katze des Nachbarn war alt.” – The neighbour’s cat was old.
Additionally, if the owner of any objective is recognised by the name, you should use the genitivecase in German before another noun. For instance:
“Amandas Auto war alt.” – Amanda’s car was old.
“Estie's Kleidung war alt.” – Estie’s clothes were old.
As you know, adjectives are used to describe something more about the noun, and there are a few adjectives in German that require genitive cases. The adjectives usually indicate a link of dependence, frequently expressing something which is “aware of” or “worthy of”. Some common examples are:
“Sie war des Lernens überdrüssig.” – She was drained of learning.
“Der Nachbar wurde des Raubes verdächtigt.” – The neighbour was suspected of robbery.
However, these adjectives sound old-fashioned and Germans try to avoid using them because they make the sentences more complex.
The verb expresses an action and occurrence of any event, and to indicate specific action types, verbs also require genitive cases in German. Therefore, some verbs take objects in genitive cases. You can understand this by reading the examples mentioned below:
“Sie braucht neue Kleidung.” – She needs new clothes.
“Er hat seine Pfannkuchen genossen.” – He enjoyed his pancakes.
Although you will find these genitive objects with verbs in old books only, it is essential that you know the usage of the genitive with verbs.
You will see several prepositions that go well with genitive, including trotz (despite), abseits (off), dank (thanks to) and während (during). Now let’s understand this with a few examples:
“Trotz Unwohlsein, er kam ins Amt.” – Despite being unwell, he came to office.
“Während der Ferien, Ich werde zum Tanzunterricht gehen.” – During the vacations, I will go to dance class.
However, there are only a few prepositions in German which require the genitive for the object. This is because some preposition indicates a precise relationship between the following noun and the preposition.
The time expressions are used to show when an event occurred, or the indefinite time may require genitives such as eines Tages (one day), zu Zeiten der (at the times of) and zeitlebens (all one’s life). A few examples that show genitive case German with time expressions are:
“Eines Tages werde ich nach Paris reisen.” – One day I will travel Paris.
“Es waren nur wenige Leute im Park zu Zeiten von Abend.” – There were a few people in the park at the time of evening.
Now that you have learned about using genitive in German, let’s understand the need for declensions and how they can be used with the German genitive case to make your sentence grammatically error-free.
Also Read- Dative Case
Now that you have learnt about the usage of the genitive case German and English, you must understand declensions and their importance in the genitive case.
In German, the declension signifies the transformation of adjectives, articles and noun endings to construct grammatically correct sentences. These changes are crucial to indicate a close relationship or possession between nouns. This works similarly as the apostrophes and “of” are utilized in English sentences.
Now let’s have a look at some essential declensions for definite and indefinite articles to learn German sentence formation more precisely.
You will observe changes in definite articles while using the genitive case German according to the gender of the noun and whether it is plural or singular. For feminine singular nouns, the genitive article is “der” whereas you must use “des” for neuter and masculine singular nouns. Let’s see a few German genitive case examples of using them in definite articles.
“Die Frau geht spazieren.” – The woman goes for a walk.
“Ich gebe dem Mann die Karte.” – I give the card to the man.
In addition, it is “der” for plural nouns regardless of their gender. See the German genitive case chart below and understand the definite articles precisely.
| Case | Feminine | Plural | Masculine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | die | die | der | das |
| Genitive | der | der | des | des |
The indefinite articles fall under the nominative case in German. The indefinite articles for feminine nouns is “einer” and “eines” for neuter as well as masculine nouns. Now let’s see some examples of indefinite articles:
“Das Auto eines Mannes”- The car of a man
“Die Handtasche einer Frau” – The purse of a woman
Following this, look at the table for a better understanding of the indefinite articles in the German genitive case and their usage for different genders.
| Case | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein | ein | eine |
| Genitive | eines | eines | einer |
The personal pronouns in German, especially in the genitive case are used rarely in everyday language. However, these pronouns are vital for writing formal letters or poetry. Additionally, you can form the genitive German pronouns by modifying the possessive pronouns, including mein, sein, dein, etc. Now, take a look at a few examples:
“Wo ist das Auto meines Vaters?” – Where is my father’s car?
“Wo ist die Handtasche meiner Mutter?” – Where is my mother’s purse?
Read the table given below, which shows a few personal pronouns of German that are used in genitive cases.
| Person | Genitive Pronoun | English Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| First Person Singular | meiner | of me |
| Second Person Singular | deiner | of you |
| Third Person Singular Feminine | ihrer | of her |
| First Person Plural | unser | of us |
| Second Person Plural | euer | of you all |
| Third Person Plural | ihrer | of them |
| Third Person Singular Masculine | seiner | of him |
| Third Person Singular Neuter | seiner | of it |
| Formal “You” | Ihrer | of you |
Summing up, although the genitive case German are used rarely, by using them correctly you can enhance your academic writing. Hence, you have basic knowledge about using the German genitives accurately. The genitive cases are crucial to express possession in German. However, you can face issues in understanding that declensions are essential for understanding German genitive cases. Also, you can learn these through German online coaching available on Gradding.com. But, to understand the basics of the German language, you should use different materials, which are easily available on online platforms. Don’t forget to use the genitive cases in speech to feel more comfortable, while speaking German!
Yes, the genitive is utilised in written German, but it is rarely used by people in spoken language.
You can use the genitive in German in 2 ways:
The dative case in German is used to indicate the indirect object within a German sentence.
Yes, the English language has genitive cases that are often referred to as the possessive case.
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