{"id":3948,"date":"2012-06-11T13:15:58","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T13:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=3948"},"modified":"2012-06-10T20:17:09","modified_gmt":"2012-06-10T20:17:09","slug":"the-genitive-case-showing-possession-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-genitive-case-showing-possession-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The Genitive Case: Showing Possession, part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most learners of German seem to fall into despair when it comes to the language\u2019s grammar cases. And when I read explanations in grammar books how to construct a German sentence with the correct cases, I can understand your discontent.<\/p>\n

The problem with grammar and its explanations is that they are just condensed information about the grammatical aspect of the language you are about to learn. And those explanations are mostly difficult to follow because they are ponderously put into words, using many technical terms and discussing the aspect thoroughly, so that all existing rules or aspects are packed together and your mind has a difficult job to do to unravel all these information. So, let\u2019s tackle the genitive case bit by bit.<\/p>\n

The genitive case is the case in language that shows possession. If you are a native speaker of English you are already familiar with this case, for example, as in \u201cMaria\u2019s father\u201d (Marias Vater), \u201cDavid\u2019s car\u201d (Davids Auto), \u201cMelanie\u2019s bag\u201d (Melanies Tasche), \u201cAlexander\u2019s book\u201d (Alexanders Buch).<\/p>\n

As you can see, there is a so-called genitive \u2013s in German, just like in English. So, when you are using proper names and particular objects in your statements, you can opt for this rule, and simply add an \u2013s to the proper name (which is here: Maria, David, Melanie, and Alexander) and then put the particular object behind the name (which is here: father-Vater; car-Auto; bag-Tasche, and book-Buch). The only difference between German and English is that you do not have to add an apostrophe between the name and the \u2013s. Compare: Maria\u2019s vs. Marias; David\u2019s vs. Davids; Melanie\u2019s vs. Melanies, and Alexander\u2019s vs. Alexanders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time to practice you new acquired knowledge!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I go on explaining other details of the genitive case, you should have the chance to practice what you have just leaned. Below you find some dialogs. A is always asking a question, and you, B, has to answer these question. Good luck.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Stift ist das? (Whose pen is it?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Michael) Das ist Michaels Stift. (That is Michael\u2019s pen.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Stifte sind das? (Whose pens are these?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Michael) Das sind Michaels Stifte. (That are Michael\u2019s pens.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The correct question word for asking to whom something belongs is \u201cWessen\u201d (whose), then you put in the object (thing or particular person) and end your question with \u201cist das?\u201d (is that?) for singular nouns and \u201csind das?\u201d for plural nouns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWessen\u201d + object + \u201cist das?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Handy ist das? (Whose cellphone is that?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Doreen)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

2.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Tasse ist das? (Whose cup is that?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Rocco)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

3.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Schuhe sind das? (Whose shoes are these?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Marco)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

4.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Handschrift ist das? (Whose handwriting is this?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Silvana)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

5.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Hosen sind das? (Whose pants are these?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Christopher)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

6.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Jacke ist das? (Whose jacket is that?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Steffen)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

7.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Kleider sind das? (Whose clothes are these?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Clara)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

8.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Kinder sind das? (Whose children are these?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Petra)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

9.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Uhr ist das? (Whose watch is that?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Franziska)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

10.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
A:<\/strong><\/td>\nWessen Schl\u00fcssel sind das? (Whose keys are these?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
B:<\/strong><\/td>\n(Susanne)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most learners of German seem to fall into despair when it comes to the language\u2019s grammar cases. And when I read explanations in grammar books how to construct a German sentence with the correct cases, I can understand your discontent. The problem with grammar and its explanations is that they are just condensed information about…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[11971,8],"tags":[95147,1083,6,95252],"class_list":["post-3948","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar-language","category-language","tag-case","tag-genitive","tag-grammar","tag-practice-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3948"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3958,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions\/3958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}