Recognising the genitive
Question
Translate these sentences into English.
Example: Der Rock meiner Schwester. – My sister’s skirt (literally: the skirt of my sister).
- Die Kleidung des Lehrers.
- Das Haus der Frau.
- Der Spruch des Tages.
- Die Wahl der Farben.
- Karl Lagerfelds Designs.
- Die Kleidung des Lehrers. – The teacher’s clothing.
- Das Haus der Frau. – The woman’s house.
- Der Spruch des Tages. – The saying of the day.
- Die Wahl der Farben. – The choice of colours.
- Karl Lagerfelds Designs. – Karl Lagerfeld’s designs.
Remember – in English you need an apostrophe. But no apostrophe in German.
Using the genitive
Hilfsvokabeln– Helpful vocabulary
- das Buch (nt) – the book
- die Farbe (f) – the colour
- das Geschäft (nt) – the shop
- das Jahr (nt) – the year
- das Loch (nt) – the hole
- das Mädchen (nt) – the girl
- das Model (nt) – the model
- die Schwester (f) – the sister
- enttäuschend (adj) – disappointing
- wichtig (adj) – important
Question
Read these sentences and fill in the gaps with the correct form of the genitive. Don’t forget to add the -s or -es if the noun is masculine or neuter. As an extra challenge, see if you can translate the sentence into English.
- Die Jeans _____ Mädchen_ hat viele Löcher.
- Ich mag das Kleid _______ Schwester. (use mein)
- Das Ende _____ Film_ war sehr enttäuschend.
- Der Ruf _____ Kleidergeschäft_ ist sehr gut.
- Die Sonnenbrille _____ Model _ sehen toll aus.
- Die Wahl _____ Farben ist wichtig.
- Der Titel _____ Buch_ war Mode und Models.
- Der Modedesigner _____ Jahr_ war sehr jung.
- Die Jeans des Mädchens haben viele Löcher. – The girl’s jeans have lots of holes.
- Ich mag das Kleid meiner Schwester. – I like my sister’s dress.
- Das Ende des Films war sehr enttäuschend. – The end of the film was very disappointing.
- Der Ruf des Kleidergeschäfts ist sehr gut. – The shop’s reputation is very good.
- Die Sonnenbrille des Models sehen toll aus. – The model’s sunglasses look great.
- Die Wahl der Farben ist wichtig. – The choice of colours is important.
- Der Titel des Buches war Mode und Models. – The title of the book was Fashion and models.
- Der Modedesigner des Jahres war sehr jung. – The fashion designer of the year was very young.
Genitive prepositions
You also use the genitive case after certain prepositions.
The most common prepositions followed by the genitive are:
- wegen – because of
- trotz – in spite of
- während – during
- außerhalb – outside
- innerhalb – inside
- (an)statt – instead of
Examples in use
- Trotz des Preises (m) habe ich das Kleid gekauft. – In spite of the price, I bought the dress.
- Während der Modewoche (f) hat sie viele Modedesigner getroffen. – During fashion week, she met lots of fashion designers.
- Wegen des Wetters (nt) habe ich meinen Regenmantel getragen. – Because of the weather, I wore my raincoat.
- Außerhalb der Großstädte (pl) ist es schwierig, die neuesten Designs zu finden. – Outside the cities, it is hard to find the latest designs.
Did you know?
Fashion – die Mode – might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Germany, but the country has produced several well-known fashion designers – Modedesigner.
Karl Lagerfeld, with his distinctive white hair and sunglasses – Sonnenbrille – was born in Hamburg. As well as creating his own labels, he was made head designer of Chanel in 1983. You will find designs by the Germans Wolfgang Joop and Jill Sander in shops all over the world.
Germany has also produced some of the world’s most well-known models – die bekanntesten Models der Welt – Heidi Klum and one of the original supermodels Claudia Schiffer, who now has her own clothing label.
After the Second World War – nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg – the Hugo Boss fashion house was fined for its involvement with the Nazi party, and in 2011 they issued an apology for its maltreatment of forced workers from France and Poland.
