Breakdown of Die Funktion meiner Maschine ist oft genial.
sein
to be
oft
often
mein
my
der
who, which, that (relative pronoun; die, das)
die Maschine
the machine (mechanical)
die Funktion
the function
genial
brilliant
Questions & Answers about Die Funktion meiner Maschine ist oft genial.
Why is it meiner Maschine instead of meine Maschine?
It is in the genitive case, which shows possession or an "of the" relationship. Maschine is a feminine noun. In the genitive case, the possessive article mein (my) takes the ending -er for feminine nouns, becoming meiner. Literally, this phrase translates to "of my machine".
Doesn't the noun usually get an -s at the end in the genitive case? Why isn't it Maschines?
You only add an -s or -es to the end of masculine and neuter nouns in the genitive case. Since Maschine is feminine, the noun itself does not change. The grammatical work is done entirely by the article meiner.
Can I use von instead of the genitive here?
Yes! In spoken German, it is very common to use von plus the dative case instead of the genitive to show possession. You could say Die Funktion von meiner Maschine, which means the exact same thing. However, using the genitive (meiner Maschine) sounds a bit more elegant and is standard in written German.
Does genial mean the same thing as the English word "genial"?
Not quite! They are false friends. In English, "genial" means friendly and cheerful. In German, genial is related to the word "genius" and means brilliant, awesome, or highly clever.
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