What German Learners Need to Know About the Genitive Case

What German Learners Need to Know About the Genitive Case This article  examines some of the finer points concerning the use of the Genitive case and assumes you already know the basics. If you do not, you may want to check out The Four German Noun Cases article first. It may offer you some comfort to know that even Germans have problems with the genitive. A common error made by native-speakers of German is to use an apostrophe - English-style - in possessive forms. For instance, they will often write â€Å"Karl’s Buch† instead of the correct form, â€Å"Karls Buch.† Some observers claim this is an influence of English, but it is an influence that is often seen on store signs and even on the sides of trucks in Austria and Germany. For non-Germans, there are other genitive problems of more concern. While it is true that the genitive case is used less in spoken German, and its frequency even in formal, written German has declined over the last few decades, there are still many situations when mastery of the genitive is important. When you look up a noun in a German dictionary, whether bilingual or German-only, youll see two endings indicated. The first indicates the genitive ending, the second is the plural ending or form. Here are two examples for the noun  Film: Film, der; -(e)s, -e  /  Ã‚  Film  m  -(e)s, -e The first entry is from a paperback all-German dictionary. The second is from a large German-English dictionary. Both tell you the same thing: The gender of  Film  is masculine (der), the genitive form is  des Filmes  or  des Films  (of the film) and the plural is  die Filme  (films, movies). Since feminine nouns in German dont have any genitive ending, a dash indicates no ending:  Kapelle, die; -, -n. The genitive form of most neuter and masculine nouns in German is fairly predictable, with an -sor -es  ending. (Almost all nouns ending in  s,  ss,  ÃƒÅ¸,  sch,  z  or  tz  must end with -es  in the genitive.) However, there are some nouns with unusual genitive forms. Most of these irregular forms are masculine nouns with a genitive -n  ending, rather than -s  or -es. Most (but not all) words in this group are weak masculine nouns that take an -n  or -en  ending in the  accusative  and  dative  cases, plus some neuter nouns. Here are a few examples: der Architekt  -  des Architekten  (architect)der Bauer  -  des Bauern  (farmer, peasant)der Friede(n) -  des Friedens  (peace)der Gedanke  -  des Gedankens  (thought, idea)der Herr  -  des Herrn  (sir, gentleman)das Herz  -  des Herzens  (heart)der Klerus  -  des Klerus  (clergy)der Mensch  -  des Menschen  (person, human)der Nachbar  -  des Nachbarn  (neighbor)der Name  -  des Namens  (name) See a full list of  special masculine nouns  that take unusual endings in the genitive and other cases in our  German-English Glossary of Special Nouns. Before we take an even closer look at the genitive case, lets mention one area of the genitive that is mercifully simple: the genitive  adjective endings. For once, at least one aspect of German grammar is plain and simple! In genitive phrases, the adjective ending is (almost) always -en, as in  des roten Autos  (of the red car),  meiner teuren Karten  (of my expensive tickets) ordieses neuen Theaters  (of the new theater). This adjective-ending rule applies to any gender and the plural in the genitive, with almost any form of the definite or indefinite article, plus  dieser-words. The very few exceptions are usually adjectives that are normally not declined at all (some colors, cities):  der Frankfurter Bà ¶rse  (of the Frankfurt stock exchange). The genitive -en  adjective ending is the same as in the dative case. If you look at our  Adjective Dative and Accusative  Endings  page, the genitive adjective endings are identical to those shown for the dative case. This applies even to genitive phrases without an article:  schweren Herzens  (with a heavy heart). Now lets continue with our look at some additional exceptions to the normal genitive endings for some neuter and masculine nouns. No Genitive Ending The genitive ending is omitted with: Many foreign words -  des Atlas, des Euro  (but also  des Euros),  die Werke des BarockMost foreign geographical names -  des High Point, die Berge des Himalaja  (or  des Himalajas)Days of the week, months -  des Montag, des Mai  (but also  des Maies/Maien),  des JanuarNames with titles (ending on title only) -  des Professors Schmidt, des amerikanischen Architekten Daniel Libeskind, des Herrn MaierBut...  des Doktor (Dr.) Mà ¼ller  (Dr. considered part of the name) Formulaic Genitive Expressions The genitive is also used in some common idiomatic or formulaic expressions in German (which are not usually translated into English with of). Such phrases include: eines Tages  - one day, some dayeines Nachts  - one night (note irreg. genitive form)eines kalten Winters  - one cold wintererster Klasse fahren  - to travel in first classletzten Endes  - when all is said and donemeines Wissens  - to my knowledgemeines Erachtens  - in my opinion/view UsingVonInstead of the Genitive Case In colloquial German, especially in certain dialects, the genitive is usually replaced by a  von-phrase or (particulary in Austria and southern Germany) with a possessive pronoun phrase:  der/dem Erich sein Haus  (Erichs house),  die/der Maria ihre Freunde  (Marias friends). In general, the use of the genitive in modern German is viewed as fancy language, more often used at a higher, more formal language register or style than that used by the average person. But the genitive is preferred in place of a  von-phrase when it may have a dual or ambiguous meaning. The dative phrase  von meinem Vater  can mean either of my father or from my father. If the speaker or writer wants to avoid possible confusion in such cases, the use of the genitive  des Vaters  would be preferable. Below youll find some guidelines regarding the use of  von-phrases as a genitive substitute: The genitive is often replaced by a  von-phrase... to avoid repetition:  der Schlà ¼ssel von der Tà ¼r des Hausesto avoid awkward language situations:  das Auto von Fritz  (rather than the old-fashioned  des Fritzchens  or  Fritz Auto)in spoken German:  der Bruder von Hans, vom Wagen  (if the meaning is clear) The genitive  must  be replaced by a  von-phrase with... pronouns:  jeder von uns,  ein Onkel von ihra single noun without an article or declined adjective:  ein Geruch von Benzin,  die Mutter von vier Kindernafter  viel  or  wenig:  viel von dem guten Bier As  mentioned in this article about prepositions that take the genitive case, even here the dative seems to be replacing the genitive in everyday German. But the genitive is still a vital part of German grammarand it delights native speakers when non-native speakers use it correctly.