Genitive case
The genitive case is used to show possession.
You use the genitive to show who something belongs to. In English we would use an apostrophe to indicate what belongs to someone or something, eg the school's headteacher.
Another way of saying 'the school's headteacher' in English is 'the headteacher of the school'. The 'of the' (ie the possession) is expressed in German using the genitive case.
Changes in the genitive case
| Definite | Indefinite | |
| Masculine | des | eines/keines |
| Feminine | der | einer/keiner |
| Neuter | des | eines/keines |
| Plural | der | ––––/keiner |
| Masculine | |
|---|---|
| Definite | des |
| Indefinite | eines/keines |
| Feminine | |
|---|---|
| Definite | der |
| Indefinite | einer/keiner |
| Neuter | |
|---|---|
| Definite | des |
| Indefinite | eines/keines |
| Plural | |
|---|---|
| Definite | der |
| Indefinite | ––––/keiner |
The following words change in the same way as ein and kein:
- mein – my
- dein – your (informal, singular)
- sein – his
- ihr – her
- unser – our
- euer – your (informal, plural)
- Ihr – your (formal, singular and plural)
- ihr – their
You also need to add an -s or -es to the genitive noun when it's masculine or neuter.
Let's break down the structure more clearly.
Examples in use
- Die Handschuhe des Kindes. – The child’s gloves (the gloves of the child).
The gender of Kind is das. So das changes to des in the genitive, and you add -es to the end of the noun Kind so that it becomes des Kindes – of the child.
- Die Familie meines Freundes. – My friend’s family (the family of my friend).
The gender of Freund is der, so 'my friend' is mein Freund. The word mein changes to meines in the genitive, and you add -es to the end of the noun Freund so that it becomes meines Freundes – of my friend.
You can use a dictionary to find out if you add an -e or an -es, eg:
- Kind, das; -(e)s
If the -e is in brackets, then you can use either -s or -es at the end of the word in the genitive. As a general rule, one-syllable words usually add -es and longer words just -s.
- Der Chef ihres Onkels – Her uncle's boss (the boss of her uncle).
The gender of Onkel is der, so 'her uncle' is ihr Onkel. The word ihr changes to ihres in the genitive, and you add -s to the end of the noun Onkel so that it becomes ihres Onkels – of her uncle.
Further examples
Here are some more examples. The genitive is in bold.
- Das Handy des Mädchens. – The girl’s mobile (literally: the mobile of the girl).
- Das ist die Mütze des Mannes. – That is the man's cap (the cap of the man).
- Der Hund meines Freundes ist sehr lebendig. – My friend’s dog is very lively (the dog of my friend…).
- Die Jacke der Frau hat 70 Euro gekostet. – The woman's jacket cost 70 euros (the jacket of the woman…).
- Die Party der Kinder war ein Erfolg. – The children’s party was a success (the party of the children…)
- Der Computer meines Bruders. – My brother’s computer (the computer of my brother).
