In German, the genitive case is classically used for nouns that represent the owner of another noun or shows that one noun belongs to another noun.
For example, in Mozart’s famous opera Die Zauberflöte meaning The Magic Flute, genitive case plays a big role, when the Queen of the Night sings her powerful aria titled:
- genitive caseDer Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen!Translation: Hell’s revenge is cooking in my heart!Her revenge originates in or belongs to a hellish place!
However there are also a few other uses of the genitive case, for example, it follows certain prepositions.
In modern German, the genitive case is considered a bit formal, so you might not encounter it a lot in everyday conversation. However, you will encounter it in formal contexts (like at the opera!) so it’s important to know how to use it as well as the strategies you can use to avoid it! So, come to the opera and find out more about the genitive case!
What is the genitive case in German?
The genitive case is one of the four cases in German: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Each case represents a special form given to the words in noun phrases that perform some particular grammatical function in a sentence.
As we mentioned above, the genitive case may be used to mark an association of belonging. That can mean ownership, that a part belongs to a whole or even more distant relationships like authorship. The noun representing the owner is then called a genitive attribute.
- Ownership:Das Schwert des Priesters war scharf.Translation: The sword of the priest was sharp.
- Part of the whole:Das Holz der Zauberflöte war braun.Translation: The wood of the magic flute was brown.
- Authorship:Der Komponist der Oper war Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.Translation: The composer of the opera was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozert.
The case of a noun phrase can affect not only the form of the noun or pronoun itself, but also all the words that go along with it, including articles, adjectives, and other noun-modifying words. Therefore all of these different types of words may have special genitive forms.
Need a quick refresher on cases? Find out more about German cases and how they work in our post on the German case system. But now, let’s take a closer look at those genitive attributes!
How to form the genitive case in German?
How to form the genitive case of nouns in German?
In German, you’ll put a noun in the genitive case either by applying no change to the form of a noun or by adding an -s or an -es to the end of a noun. For obvious reasons, you’ll sometimes hear this second option called the “s-genitive.”
However, the exact rules for forming the genitive and forming possessive phrases will depend on the type of noun you are putting into the genitive. There are three major categories:
personal names
place names
all other nouns
These two sentences illustrate all three types:
Next, let’s learn how to form the genitive case of each type of genitive attribute!
Personal names
In German, forming the genitive case of a personal name (first or last) is really easy: just add -s to the name! When the genitive attribute is a personal name, it will stand in front of the noun representing what is being owned:
But be careful! If the name ends with s, x, ß, or z, we don’t add an -s to form a genitive attribute, but rather no ending at all. When writing, the “missing” s is expressed by an apostrophe, but that doesn’t influence pronunciation:
The s-genitive is still used if a name is preceded by a title, such as Herr Schikaneder meaning Mr. Schikaneder or Frau Hofer meaning Ms. Hofer, but in that case, the title also needs to be put into the genitive case.
Because the titles aren’t “personal names” they’ll follow the genitive case rules outlined below.
Geographical place names
Geographical place Like personal names, the genitive case of place names is usually formed by adding the ending -s. However, genitive attributes formed from geographical names stand behind the noun they are describing, not in front:
However, if the name of a place includes an article, the name of the place does not take an -s. Some examples of place names like this might include: die Schweiz meaning Switzerland, die Ukraine meaning Ukraine or die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika meaning the United States of America. When these types of places occur in the genitive case, the article and modifiers need to take on its genitive case form but the name itself doesn’t have a special ending.
Other nouns
With nouns that are not names for places or people, the genitive case form will depend on the gender and number of the noun:
Masculine and neuter singular nouns → add the ending -s or -es
Feminine singular and plural nouns → no change
Genitive attributes formed from non-names stand behind the noun they are describing:
But when to add -s and when to add -es to a masculine or neuter noun? Here is a handy rule:
nouns with more than one syllable → add -s
genitive caseDie Position des Orchestergrabens ist direkt vor der Bühne.Translation: The position of the orchestra pit is directly in front of the stage.all other nouns → add -es
genitive caseDie Farbe des Kleides der Königin ist dunkelblau.Translation: The color of the queen’s dress is dark blue.
How to form the genitive case of articles and similar words?
The following tables illustrate the genitive case of definite articles and indefinite articles in German, contrasted with their nominative (dictionary) forms:
| Definite articles (“the”) | ||
|---|---|---|
Masculine | der | des |
Feminine | die | der |
Neuter | das | des |
Plural | die | der |
| Indefinite articles (“a(n)”) | ||
|---|---|---|
Masculine | ein | eines |
Feminine | eine | einer |
Neuter | ein | eines |
Next, let’s check out the genitive case forms of pronouns, adjectives, and prepositions.
How to form the genitive case of German pronouns?
Different types of German pronouns have different genitive case rules:
German personal pronouns (e.g. “he” or “we”) have no genitive forms. When you want to specify that something belongs to a personal pronoun, you’ll use a possessive adjective (e.g. “his” or “our”) instead.
As we saw in the previous section, demonstratives (e.g. “this” or “that”) use the same SRSR endings as the articles.
The genitive case interrogative pronoun is wessen meaning of whose:
genitive caseWessen Dolch soll Pamina nehmen?Translation: Whose dagger is Pamina supposed to take?The genitive case of the relative pronoun in German is dessen or deren. Both mean “whose” but we use dessen when the possessor is masculine or neuter singular and deren when the possessor is plural or feminine singular.
antecedent (possessor)genitive caseMozart, dessen Oper “Die Zauberflöte” weltbekannt ist, komponierte noch viel mehr.Translation: Mozart, whose opera “The Magic Flute” is world-renowned, composed a lot more.Dort kommt die Königin, deren Tochter Tamino liebt.Translation: There comes the queen, whose daughter loves Tamino.
How to form the genitive case of adjectives in German?
Adjectives that directly precede nouns also change their form according to the case by adding an adjective ending. Here are the rules for adjectives preceding nouns in the genitive case:
When a genitive adjective is preceded by an article it will end with -en
definite article (genitive)genitive adjectiveDer Tempel des weisen Priesters der goldenen Sonne.Translation: The temple of the wise priest of the golden sun.When a genitive adjective is not preceded by an article there are two possible endings:
Use -en for adjectives preceding masculine or neuter singular nouns.
Use -er for adjectives preceding a plural or feminine singular noun.
For example:
- genitive adjectiveneuter singular nounDer Anblick frischen Wassers brachte Papageno zum Sprechen.Translation: The sight of fresh water made Papageno speak.
- genitive adjectiveplural nounDie Worte weiser Priester sollte man befolgen.Translation: The words of wise priests should be followed.
What are the German genitive prepositions?
The German genitive prepositions a set of prepositions that are always or usually followed by noun phrases the genitive case. Though some of these relate to possession or belonging, many of them have meanings completely unrelated to possession — they just happen to be followed by the genitive.
Some examples of genitive prepositions are während meaning while, or trotz meaning despite that, or außerhalb meaning outside of.
The full list of genitive prepositions in German is quite long, but many of them rarely occur in colloquial German. You might find them in official documents but not hear them in the streets. To see the full list, check out our German genitive case reference sheet.
Though all of the genitive prepositions should be used before the genitive case in formal contexts (like writing), in colloquial German, some of them are used more often with the dative case. For example:
- dative caseWegen dem Glockenspiel entkommen sie Monostatos.Translation: Because of the bells, they escape Monostatos.Casual, spoken German
- genitive caseWegen des Glockenspiels entkommen sie Monostatos.Translation: Because of the bells, they escape Monostatos.Formal or written German
There are a few genitive prepositions that can be used either before or after the noun phrase. Though they assign the genitive case before the noun, they assign the dative case when they are used after the noun:
- prepositiongenitive caseZufolge des Priesters ist die Königin böse.Translation: According to the priest, the queen is evil.
- dative caseprepositionDem Priester zufolge ist die Königin böse.Translation: According to the priest, the queen is evil.
When to use the dative case instead of the genitive case?
In spoken German you will often use the dative case instead of the genitive case.
After a genitive preposition, you can just replace the genitive with the dative, as long as you’re speaking casually:
genitive prepositiondative caseWährend ihrem Lied nahm die Königin den Dolch.Translation: During her song, the queen took the dagger.casualTo replace the a possessive use of the genitive, use von meaning of + dative case instead:
Genitive case Von + Dative case genitive caseMozart ist der wichtigste Komponist Österreichs.Translation: Mozart is Austria’s most important composer.dative caseMozart ist der wichtigste Komponist von Österreich.Translation: Mozart is the most important composer of Austria.genitive caseIn seiner Oper ist Paminas Mutter die Königin der Nacht.Translation: In his opera, Pamina’s mother is the queen of the night.dative caseIn seiner Oper ist die Mutter von Pamina die Königin von der Nacht.Translation: In his opera, the mother of Pamina is the queen of the night.
What are some German idioms and set phrases that use the genitive case?
Several German idioms or set phrases contain the genitive case. Here are a few of them:
| German | English |
|---|---|
sich jemandes/etwas entledigen | to be rid of someone/something |
einer Person/Sache nicht mächtig sein | to not be the master of someone/something |
einer Person/Sache nicht Herr werden | to not be able to master someone/something |
einer Person/Sache überdrüssig sein | to be fed up with someone or something |
jemanden einer Sache bezichtigen | to accuse someone of something |
Summary
In this post, we read about when to use the genitive case and the types of words that have genitive forms. Here’s a summary of what we covered:
Forming the genitive case:
Most genitive nouns will either end with -(e)s or have no special ending.
The genitive definite articles are des, der, des, der, and these endings (SRSR) are reused for several similar words.
Genitive adjectives end with -en if they follow an article, or either -en or -er when they don’t.
Use the genitive case for…
A noun something or someone belongs to
A noun that follows one of the genitive prepositions
In casual speech, Germans will often avoid using the genitive case by using the dative case instead.
Ready to practice what you’ve learned? Check out our exercises on the German genitive case! Or, if you’d rather study, check out our German genitive case reference sheet. Happy learning!
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