German 22 - The genitive case

In the German language there are four cases: nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. In this lesson we'll go deeper into the genitive case.

The genitive case describes the possessor of something else in the sentence.

DefiniteIndefinite
Masculine die Hand des Mannes
the hand of the man

der Geschmack des Kaffees
the taste of the coffee
die Hand eines Mannes
the hand of a man

der Geschmack eines Kaffees
the taste of a coffee
Femininedie Hand der Frau
the hand of the woman
die Hand einer Frau
the hand of a woman
Neuter die Hand des Kindes
the hand of the child

das Leiden des Lebens
the suffering of life
die Hand eines Kindes
the hand of a child

das Leiden eines Lebens
the suffering of a life
Pluraldie Hände der Kinder
the hands of the children
-

Note that in the genitive case, the masculine and neuter forms behave the same, and the plural form behaves the same as the feminine form.

In the genitive case, masculine and neuter nouns receive -es at the end, if they consist of a single syllable and don't end in an -e. Masculine and neuter nouns consisting of multiple syllables, or ending in an -e, only receive an -s at the end.

For the feminine and the plural forms, the noun is the same as in the nominative form.

Contributors