''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod'' ( en, The Dative is the Death of the Genitive) is a series of books by Bastian Sick which deal in an entertaining manner with unappealing or clumsy use of the German language, as well as areas of contention in

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

, and

punctuation Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. An ...

Origins

The books are collections of the author’s column 'Zwiebelfisch', which appeared from 2003 to 2012 in ''

Spiegel Online ''Der Spiegel (online)'' is a German news website. Before the renaming in January 2020, the website's name was ''Spiegel Online'' (short ''SPON''). It was founded in 1994 as the online offshoot of the German news magazine, '' Der Spiegel'', w ...

''. Since February 2005 it also appeared in print in '' Der Spiegels monthly culture supplement. The column's title, literally 'onion fish', is a printers' term for a single character with an incorrect font in a block of text. The series consists of six volumes, all of which reached the top of the book sales lists, with the first volume selling more than 1.5 million copies within two years. The title, ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod'' ( en, the dative is the death of the genitive) is a way of saying ''Der Dativ ist der Tod des Genitivs'' or ''Der Dativ ist des Genitivs Tod'', a reference to a linguistic phenomenon in certain dialects of German where a noun in genitive case is replaced by a

possessive adjective Possessive determiners (from la, possessivus, translit=; grc, κτητικός / ktētikós - en. ktetic Lallu) are determiners which express possession. Some traditional grammars of English refer to them as possessive adjectives, though they ...

and noun in the

dative case In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated , or sometimes when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a ...

(see

his genitive The his genitive is a means of forming a genitive construction by linking two nouns with a possessive pronoun such as "his" (e.g. "my friend his car" instead of "my friend's car"). This construction enjoyed only a brief heyday in English in the l ...

Reception

In several German states, articles from the books have been used officially as teaching materials, and—according to Sick's foreword of August 2005, the series has been added to the set text list for the Abitur in

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. The material in the book series has been adapted into a

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a co ...

, a computer game and into

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

s. On the other hand, the linguists Vilmos Ágel, Manfred Kaluza and André Meinunger think that Sick's books are not useful for teaching German because they contain factual errors, often just deal with irrelevant nitpicking, and don't give sufficient proof of why something Sick deems wrong should be wrong.Vilmos Áge
Bastian Sick und die Grammatik. Ein ungleiches Duell
– Informationen Deutsch als Fremdsprache, 35. Jg, Heft 1, 2008, S. 64–84

Book titles

* ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod – Ein Wegweiser durch den Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache.'' Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2004, (audio book: ) * ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod, Folge 2 – Neues aus dem Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache.'' Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2005, (audio book: ) * ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Folge 3 – Noch mehr aus dem Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache.'' Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln November 2006, (audio book: ) * ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Folge 4 – Das Allerneueste aus dem Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache.'' Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2009, * ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Folge 5''. Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2013, (audio book: ) * ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Folge 6''. Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2015,

DVD title

* ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod – Die Große Bastian Sick Schau.'' icSony BMG Music Entertainment GmbH, 2008, ASIN B000X1YDCC

Game titles

* ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod.'' KOSMOS, 2006, ASIN 3440690237 * ''Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod – Das PC-Spiel.'' (PC & Mac) United Soft Media Verlag GmbH, 2007, ASIN 3803228301

External links

Der Spiegel ‘Zwiebelfisch’ column (German)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dativ Ist Dem Genitiv Sein Tod German books German grammar