Der GenitivGenitive Case genitive case is used in

Der Genitiv-Genitive Case genitive case is used in German to express either: • possession, ownership, belonging to or with: -Hier ist das Auto meines Vaters. Here is my father’s car. -Hast du die Freunde meiner Schwester gesehen? Did you see my sister’s friends? • “of” in English, when referring to a part or component of something else: -Am Anfang des Kurses haben wir viel gelernt. We learned a lot at the beginning of the course. -Manche Seiten des Buches fehlen. Some pages of the book are missing. • Genitiv prepositions: anstatt (statt) -- instead of, außerhalb -- outside of, innerhalb -inside of, within, trotz -- in spite of, während -- during, in the course of, wegen -- because of:

Nom Akk Dat Gen Mas der den dem des Fem die der Neutral das dem des PL die den + n der Wer-who (nom) Wen-whom (akk) Wem-whom (dat) Wessen-whose (gen) Wessen Auto ist das? Whose car is that? German adds an ending to the mas/ neutral noun (person/place/ thing) in the genitive case. Add -es for single-syllable -s for 2 or more syllables. There is no ending for the fem or the pl! What is a syllable: Clap your hands to figure out the syllables. Mann is short and you should be able to clap your hands once. Try it now Your ending will be des Mannes Sommer is long and you should be able to clap your hands 2 times. Try it now Your ending will be des Sommers masc des Mannes meines Mannes neut des Buches meines Buches fem der Frau meiner Frau pl der Blumen meiner Blumen

Word of warning: Your impulse may be to simply put an -s before a noun to indicate the possessive, as we do in English (my father’s car). However, saying “mein Vaters Wagen” is not only incorrect in German, it is incomprehensible and makes no sense at all. You must rephrase: “der Wagen meines Vaters”. Think of it as saying “the car of my father”. With personal names, you just add an -s to the person’s name to indicate possessive (Just like English without the apostrophe). If the name ends in a –s then add a -‘ after it like in English. But when referring to any other noun rather than a proper name, the genitive formation must be used: Erins Freund heißt Thomas. Hans’ Mutter ist nett. Colorados Hauptstadt ist Denver. Der Freund meiner Schwester heißt Thomas. The friend of my sister is called Thomas. Die Mutter meines Freundes ist nett. The mother of my friend is nice. Die Hauptstadt dieses Bundeslands ist Denver. The capital of this state is Denver. Alternate method: We are not focusing on this, but it is important to know The genitive case has been disappearing in German, but it’s not ‘dead’ yet. You won’t hear it in informal situations - it’s reserved formal writing or elevated styles of speech. Instead of the genitive to indicate possession, you will often hear the dative used with the preposition ‘von’: das Haus meines Freundes = das Haus von meinem Freund der Onkel meiner Mutter = der Onkel von meiner Mutter die Namen der Kinder = die Namen von den Kindern