Breakdown of Der Schlüssel von meinem Vater ist hier.
sein
to be
hier
here
der Schlüssel
the key
der Vater
the father
Questions & Answers about Der Schlüssel von meinem Vater ist hier.
Why does this sentence use von meinem Vater instead of just mein Vater?
To say "my father's key" in conversational German, you can use the preposition von (meaning "of" or "from"). This is like saying "the key of my father". The preposition von always forces the following words into the dative case. Because Vater is masculine, mein gets the dative ending -em to become meinem.
Is it also correct to use the genitive case here, like Der Schlüssel meines Vaters?
Yes, absolutely! Using the genitive case is the traditional, more formal way to show possession. However, everyday spoken German frequently replaces the genitive with von plus the dative case, which is exactly what this sentence does.
If I wanted to say "my mother's key", would it still be von meinem?
No, the ending would change based on the gender of the noun. Because "mother" is feminine (die Mutter), the dative case ending for feminine words is -er. You would say Der Schlüssel von meiner Mutter.
Does Der Schlüssel von meinem Vater count as one single block in the sentence?