what is it?
The genitive is the fourth grammatical case in German. Its core job is to express a relationship of possession or attribution between two nouns — roughly equivalent to English of or the apostrophe-s construction (the title of the book, Maria's car). It also appears after a fixed set of prepositions and in certain fixed time expressions. In everyday spoken German it is often replaced by a von + dative paraphrase, but the genitive remains standard in writing and formal speech.
when to use it
Possession and attribution between two nouns. The second noun (the possessor) goes into the genitive: der Titel des Buches (the title of the book).
Proper names. A proper name simply takes -s appended directly, with no article and no apostrophe: Marias Auto. Names already ending in s, ß, x, or z take a bare apostrophe instead of adding another s: Fritz' Schwester.
Genitive prepositions. The prepositions trotz (despite), wegen (because of), innerhalb (within), and außerhalb (outside of) all govern the genitive in standard written German.
Fixed temporal expressions. A small set of time phrases use a frozen genitive form, e.g. eines Tages (one day / someday).
Von-paraphrase in casual speech. In informal spoken German, der Titel des Buches is commonly replaced by der Titel von dem Buch. This is acceptable in speech but avoid it in formal writing.
formation
The genitive has two moving parts: the article (or determiner) changes its ending, and masculine and neuter nouns add -(e)s to the noun itself. Feminine and plural nouns do not change their ending.
| gender / number | nominative article | genitive article | noun ending |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | der | des | -(e)s e.g. des Mannes, des Vaters |
| neuter | das | des | -(e)s e.g. des Buches, des Kindes |
| feminine | die | der | — (no change) e.g. der Frau, der Stadt |
| plural | die | der | — (no change) e.g. der Kinder, der Männer |
-s or -es? One-syllable nouns and nouns ending in s, ß, x, or z typically take -es (e.g. des Mannes, des Buches). Longer nouns usually take just -s (e.g. des Vaters, des Lehrers). Both forms are correct for many nouns; when in doubt, -es is always safe for monosyllables.
Adjective endings in the genitive. All adjectives in the genitive take the ending -en regardless of gender, when preceded by a definite or indefinite article: trotz des schlechten Wetters, das Auto eines alten Mannes.
Proper names. Add -s directly to the name, no article, no apostrophe: Marias Auto. If the name already ends in s, ß, x, or z, write an apostrophe and nothing else: Fritz' Schwester.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Dropping -(e)s from masculine or neuter nouns. The article alone is not enough. «*des Buch» and «*des Mann» are wrong. The noun must also carry the genitive ending: des Buches, des Mannes.
Using dative after wegen or trotz in formal writing. «*wegen dem Regen» is heard in colloquial speech but is not accepted in formal or written German. Use the genitive: wegen des Regens.
Stacking von onto a genitive. Choose one or the other. «*von des Mannes Auto» mixes both constructions and is ungrammatical. Either use the genitive (das Auto des Mannes) or the von-paraphrase (das Auto von dem Mann).
Writing an apostrophe in proper-name genitives. German does not use an apostrophe to mark the genitive of ordinary names. «*Maria's Auto» is an anglicism. Write Marias Auto. The apostrophe is used only when the name already ends in a sibilant (s, ß, x, z): Fritz' Schwester.
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Hast du ___ neuen Podcast schon gehört? (Jonas)
Fill in the blank with the correct genitive form of the name in parentheses.