Genitive form
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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 ...
, the genitive case (
abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
) is the
grammatical case A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In various languages, nomin ...
that marks a word, usually a
noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an
attributive In grammar, an attributive expression is a word or phrase within a noun phrase that modifies the head noun. It may be an: * attributive adjective * attributive noun * attributive verb or other part of speech, such as an attributive numeral. ...
relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can also serve purposes indicating other relationships. For example, some
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
s may feature
arguments An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectic ...
in the genitive case; and the genitive case may also have
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
ial uses (see adverbial genitive).
Genitive construction In grammar, a genitive construction or genitival construction is a type of grammatical construction used to express a relation between two nouns such as the possession of one by another (e.g. "John's jacket"), or some other type of connection ( ...
includes the genitive case, but is a broader category. Placing a modifying noun in the genitive case is one way of indicating that it is related to a
head noun In linguistics, the head or nucleus of a phrase is the word that determines the syntactic category of that phrase. For example, the head of the noun phrase ''boiling hot water'' is the noun ''water''. Analogously, the head of a compound is the s ...
, in a genitive construction. However, there are other ways to indicate a genitive construction. For example, many
Afroasiatic languages The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...
place the head noun (rather than the modifying noun) in the
construct state In Afro-Asiatic languages, the first noun in a genitive phrase of a possessed noun followed by a possessor noun often takes on a special morphological form, which is termed the construct state (Latin ''status constructus''). For example, in Arabi ...
. Possessive grammatical constructions, including the possessive case, may be regarded as a subset of genitive construction. For example, the genitive construction " pack of dogs" is similar, but not identical in meaning to the possessive case "dogs' pack" (and neither of these is entirely interchangeable with "dog pack", which is neither genitive nor possessive). Modern English is an example of a language that has a possessive case rather than a ''conventional'' genitive case. That is, Modern English indicates a genitive construction with either the possessive clitic suffix " -", or a prepositional genitive construction such as "x of y". However, some irregular English pronouns do have possessive forms which may more commonly be described as genitive (see English possessive). The names of the astronomical constellations have genitive forms which are used in star names, for example the star
Mintaka Mintaka , designation Delta Orionis (δ Orionis, abbreviated Delta Ori, δ Ori) and 34 Orionis (34 Ori), is a multiple star system some 1,200 light-years from the Sun in the constellation of Orion. Together with Alnitak (Zeta Or ...
in the constellation Orion (genitive Orionis) is also known as Delta Orionis or 34 Orionis. Many languages have a genitive case, including Albanian,
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
,
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
,
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
,
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
, Estonian,
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
,
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
,
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, Gothic, Hungarian, Icelandic,
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
,
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, Latvian, Lithuanian, Nepali,
Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
,
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
,
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...
,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
,
Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
,
Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...
, Telugu, Turkish and all
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
except Bulgarian and Macedonian.


Functions

Depending on the language, specific varieties of genitive-noun–main-noun relationships may include: * possession (''see'' possessive case, possessed case): **
inalienable possession In linguistics, inalienable possession (abbreviated ) is a type of possession in which a noun is obligatorily possessed by its possessor. Nouns or nominal affixes in an inalienable possession relationship cannot exist independently or be "ali ...
("''Janet's'' height", "''Janet's'' existence", "''Janet's'' long fingers") **
alienable possession In linguistics, inalienable possession (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a type of possession (linguistics), possession in which a noun is Obligatory possession, obligatorily possessed by its possessor. Nouns or nominal (linguist ...
("''Janet's'' jacket", "''Janet's'' drink") ** relationship indicated by the noun being modified ("''Janet's'' husband") * composition (''see''
Partitive In linguistics, the partitive is a word, phrase, or case that indicates partialness. Nominal partitives are syntactic constructions, such as "some of the children", and may be classified semantically as either set partitives or entity partitives ba ...
): ** substance ("a wheel ''of cheese''") ** elements ("a group ''of men''") ** source ("a portion ''of the food''") * participation in an action: ** as an
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
("She benefited from ''her father's'' love") – this is called the ''subjective genitive'' (Compare "Her father loved her", where ''Her father'' is the ''subject''.) ** as a
patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other hea ...
("the love ''of music''")  – this is called the ''objective genitive'' (Compare "She loves music", where ''music'' is the ''object''.) * origin ("men ''of Rome''") * reference ("the capital ''of the Republic''" or "''the Republic's'' capital") * description ("man ''of honour''", "day ''of reckoning''") * compounds ("''dooms''day" ("doom's day"),
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well ...
"''ball coise''" = "football", where "''coise''" = gen. of "''cas''", "foot") *
apposition Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and one of the elements is ...
(
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
牛の角 (''ushi no tsuno''), "cow horn") Depending on the language, some of the relationships mentioned above have their own distinct cases different from the genitive. Possessive pronouns are distinct pronouns, found in Indo-European languages such as English, that function like pronouns inflected in the genitive. They are considered separate pronouns if contrasting to languages where pronouns are regularly inflected in the genitive. For example, English ''my'' is either a separate
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 ...
or an irregular genitive of ''I'', while in Finnish, for example, ''minun'' is regularly agglutinated from ''minu-'' "I" and ''-n'' (genitive). In some languages, nouns in the genitive case also agree in case with the nouns they modify (that is, it is marked for two cases). This phenomenon is called suffixaufnahme. In some languages, nouns in the genitive case may be found in inclusio – that is, between the main noun's article and the noun itself.


English

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
had a genitive case, which has left its mark in modern English in the form of the possessive ending s'' (now sometimes referred to as the "Saxon genitive"), as well as possessive adjective forms such as ''his'', ''their'', etc., and in certain words derived from adverbial genitives such as ''once'' and ''afterwards''. (Other Old English case markers have generally disappeared completely.) The modern English possessive forms are not normally considered to represent a grammatical case, although they are sometimes referred to as genitives or as belonging to a
possessive case A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict own ...
. One of the reasons that the status of ''’s'' as a case ending is often rejected is that it does not behave as such, but rather as a clitic marking that indicates that a dependency relationship exists between phrases. One can say ''the King’s war'', but also ''the King of France’s war'', where the genitive marker is attached to the full noun phrase ''the King of France'', whereas case markers are normally attached to the head of a phrase. In languages having a true genitive case, such as Old English, this example may be expressed as ''þes cynges wyrre of France'', literally "the King's war of France", with the ''’s'' attaching to ''the King''.


Finnic genitives and accusatives

Finnic languages The Finnic (''Fennic'') or more precisely Balto-Finnic (Balto-Fennic, Baltic Finnic, Baltic Fennic) languages constitute a branch of the Uralic language family spoken around the Baltic Sea by the Baltic Finnic peoples. There are around 7 mi ...
(
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
, Estonian, etc.) have genitive cases. In Finnish, prototypically the genitive is marked with ''-n'', e.g. ''maa – maan'' "country – of the country". The stem may change, however, with
consonant gradation Consonant gradation is a type of consonant mutation (mostly lenition but also assimilation) found in some Uralic languages, more specifically in the Finnic, Samic and Samoyedic branches. It originally arose as an allophonic alternation betw ...
and other reasons. For example, in certain words ending in consonants, ''-e-'' is added, e.g. ''mies – miehen'' "man – of the man", and in some, but not all words ending in ''-i'', the ''-i'' is changed to an ''-e-'', to give ''-en'', e.g. ''lumi – lumen'' "snow – of the snow". The genitive is used extensively, with animate and inanimate possessors. In addition to the genitive, there is also a
partitive case The partitive case (abbreviated , , or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical case which denotes "partialness", "without result", or "without specific identity". It is also used in contexts where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, or with nu ...
(marked ''-ta/-tä'' or ''-a/-ä'') used for expressing that something is a part of a larger mass, e.g. ''joukko miehiä'' "a group of men". In Estonian, the genitive marker ''-n'' has elided with respect to Finnish. Thus, the genitive always ends with a vowel, and the singular genitive is sometimes (in a subset of words ending with a vocal in nominative) identical in form to nominative. In Finnish, in addition to the uses mentioned above, there is a construct where the genitive is used to mark a surname. For example, ''Juhani Virtanen'' can be also expressed ''Virtasen Juhani'' ("Juhani of the Virtanens"). A complication in Finnic languages is that the accusative case ''-(e)n'' is homophonic to the genitive case. This case does not indicate possession, but is a syntactic marker for the object, additionally indicating that the action is
telic Telic may refer to: *Grammatically, indicating telicity *A central argument of Teleology says that the world has clearly been constructed in a purposeful telic rather than a chaotic manner, and must therefore have been made by a rational being, i.e ...
(completed). In Estonian, it is often said that only a "genitive" exists. However, the cases have completely different functions, and the form of the accusative has developed from *''-(e)m''. (The same sound change has developed into a synchronic mutation of a final ''m'' into ''n'' in Finnish, e.g. genitive ''sydämen'' vs. nominative ''sydän''.) This homophony has exceptions in
Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...
, where a separate accusative ''-(e)t'' is found in pronouns, e.g. ''kenet'' "who (telic object)", vs. ''kenen'' "whose". A difference is also observed in some of the related
Sámi languages Sámi languages ( ), in English also rendered as Sami and Saami, are a group of Uralic languages spoken by the Sámi people in Northern Europe (in parts of northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and extreme northwestern Russia). There are, dependin ...
, where the pronouns and the plural of nouns in the genitive and accusative are easily distinguishable from each other, e.g., ''kuä'cǩǩmi'' "eagles' (genitive plural)" and ''kuä'cǩǩmid'' "eagles (accusative plural)" in Skolt Sami.


German


Formation


Articles

The genitive singular definite article for masculine and neuter nouns is ''des'', while the feminine and plural definite article is ''der''. The indefinite articles are ''eines'' for masculine and neuter nouns, and ''einer'' for feminine and plural nouns (although the bare form cannot be used in the plural, it manifests in ''keiner'', ''meiner'', etc.)


Nouns

Singular masculine and neuter nouns of the strong declension in the genitive case are marked with ''-(e)s''. Generally, one-syllable nouns favour the ''-es'' ending, and it is obligatory with nouns ending with a sibilant such as ''s'' or ''z''. Otherwise, a simple ''-s'' ending is usual. Feminine and plural nouns remain uninflected: * (of the contribution) – masculine * (of the flower) – feminine * (of the country) – neuter * (of the trees) – plural Singular masculine nouns (and one neuter noun) of the weak declension are marked with an ''-(e)n'' (or rarely ''-(e)ns'') ending in the genitive case: * (of the raven) – masculine * (of the heart) – neuter


Adjectives

The declension of adjectives in the genitive case is as follows:


Personal pronouns

The genitive personal pronouns are quite rare and either very formal, literary or outdated. They are as follows (with comparison to the nominative pronouns): Some examples: * (Would you go instead ''of me''?) * (We are not worthy ''of her/them'') * (I will commemorate ''you'')


Relative pronouns

Unlike the personal ones, the genitive relative pronouns are in regular use and are as follows (with comparison to the nominative relative pronouns): Some examples: * '' Kennst du den Schüler, dessen Mutter eine Hexe ist?'' (Do you know the student ''whose'' mother is a witch?) – masculine * ''Sie ist die Frau, deren Mann Rennfahrer ist'' (She is the woman ''whose'' husband is a racer) – feminine


Usage


Nouns

The genitive case is often used to show possession or the relation between nouns: *die Farbe ''des'' ''Himmels'' (the colour ''of the'' ''sky'') *Deutschland liegt im Herzen ''Europas'' (Germany lies in the heart ''of Europe'') *der Tod ''seiner Frau'' (the death ''of his wife'') *die Entwicklung ''dieser Länder'' (the development ''of these countries'') A simple ''s'' is added to the end of a name: *''Claudias'' Buch (''Claudia's'' book)


Prepositions

The genitive case is also commonly found after certain prepositions: * innerhalb ''eines Tages'' (within ''a day'') * statt ''des'' ''Hemdes'' (instead ''of the shirt'') * während ''unserer'' ''Abwesenheit'' (during ''our absence'') * jenseits ''der Berge'' (beyond ''the mountains'')


Adjectives

The genitive case can sometimes be found in connection with certain adjectives: * Wir sind uns ''dessen'' bewusst (We are aware ''of that'') * Er ist ''des Diebstahls'' schuldig (He is guilty ''of theft'') * Das Kind ist ''der Ruhe'' bedürftig (The child is in need ''of calmness'') * Ich werde ''dieses Lebens'' überdrüssig (I am growing weary ''of this life'')


Verbs

The genitive case is occasionally found in connection with certain verbs (some of which require an accusative before the genitive); they are mostly either formal or legal: * Die Stadt erfreut sich ''eines günstigen Klimas'' (The city enjoys ''a favourable climate'') * Gedenken Sie ''der Toten'' des Krieges (Remember ''those who died'' in (the) war) * Wer klagte ihn ''des Mordes'' an? (Who accused him ''of murder''?) * Man verdächtigt euch ''des Betrugs'' (Someone suspects you ''of (committing) fraud'')


Greek

The ablative case of Indo-European was absorbed into the genitive in Classical Greek. This added to the usages of the "genitive proper", the usages of the "ablatival genitive". The genitive occurs with verbs, adjectives, adverbs and prepositions.


Hungarian

The Hungarian genitive is constructed using the suffix ''-é''. *''madár'' ('bird'); ''madáré'' ('bird's') The genitive ''-é'' suffix is only used with the predicate of a sentence: it serves the role of mine, yours, hers, etc. The possessed object is left in the nominative case. For example: *''A csőr a madáré'' ('The beak is the bird's'). If the possessor is not the predicate of the sentence, the genitive is not used. Instead, the possessive suffixes (''-(j)e'' or ''-(j)a'' in the third person singular, depending on
vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, mea ...
) mark the possessed object. The possessor is left in the nominative if it directly precedes the possessed object (otherwise it takes a dative ''-nak/-nek'' suffix). For example: *''csőr'' ('beak'); ''csőre'' ('its beak') *''a madár csőre''/''csőre a madárnak'' ('the bird's beak') In addition, the suffix ''-i'' ('of') is also used. For example: *''madár'' ('bird'); ''madári'' ('avian', 'of bird(s)')


Japanese

The
Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...
possessive is constructed by using the grammatical particle ''no'' の to make the genitive case. For example: :Nominative: 猫 ''neko'' ('cat'); 手 ''te'' ('hand, paw') :Genitive: 猫の手 ''neko-no te'' ('cat's paw') It also uses the suffix ''-na'' 〜な for adjectival noun; in some analyses adjectival nouns are simply nouns that take ''-na'' in the genitive, forming a
complementary distribution In linguistics, complementary distribution, as distinct from contrastive distribution and free variation, is the relationship between two different elements of the same kind in which one element is found in one set of environments and the other ele ...
(''-no'' and ''-na'' being
allomorph In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme, or, a unit of meaning that varies in sound and spelling without changing the meaning. The term ''allomorph'' describes the realization of phonological variations for a specif ...
s). The archaic genitive case particle ''-ga'' ~が is still retained in certain expressions, place names, and dialects. Possessive ''ga'' can also be written as a small ke (), for example in . Typically, languages have nominative case nouns converting into genitive case. It has been found, however, that the
Kansai dialect The is a group of Japanese dialects in the Kansai region (Kinki region) of Japan. In Japanese, is the common name and it is called in technical terms. The dialects of Kyoto and Osaka are known as , and were particularly referred to as suc ...
of Japanese will in rare cases allow accusative case to convert to genitive, if specific conditions are met in the clause in which the conversion appears. This is referred to as "Accusative-Genitive conversion."


Latin

The genitive is one of the cases of nouns and pronouns in
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
. Latin genitives still have certain modern scientific uses: *
Scientific names In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
of living things sometimes contain genitives, as in the plant name ''
Buddleja davidii ''Buddleja davidii'' (spelling variant ''Buddleia davidii''), also called summer lilac, butterfly-bush, or orange eye, is a species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Scrophulariaceae, native plant, native to Sichuan and Hubei pro ...
'', meaning "David's buddleia". Here ''davidii'' is the genitive of ''Davidius'', a Latinized version of the Hebrew name. It is not capitalized because it is the second part of a binomial name. *Names of astronomical constellations are Latin, and the genitives of their names are used in naming objects in those constellations, as in the Bayer designation of stars. For example, the brightest star in the constellation
Virgo Virgo may refer to: *Virgo (astrology), the sixth astrological sign of the zodiac * Virgo (constellation), a constellation *Virgo Cluster, a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Virgo *Virgo Stellar Stream, remains of a dwarf galaxy * Virgo Su ...
is called ''Alpha Virginis'', which is to say "Alpha of Virgo", as ''virginis'' is the genitive of ''virgō''. Note that plural forms and adjectives also decline accordingly: plural ''Alpha Piscium'' ( Pisces) and ''Alpha Canum Venaticorum'' (
Canes Venatici Canes Venatici () is one of the 88 constellations designated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). It is a small northern constellation that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the 17th century. Its name is Latin for 'hunting dogs', and ...
) versus singular ''Alpha Piscis Austrini'' (
Piscis Austrinus Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for "the southern fish", in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fish. Before the 20th century, it was also known a ...
) and ''Alpha Canis Majoris'' ( Canis Major). Astronomy manuals often list the genitive forms, as some are easy to get wrong even with a basic knowledge of Latin, e.g. Vela, which is a neuter plural not a feminine singular: ''Delta Velorum'' not *''Delta Velae''. * '' Modus operandi'', which can be translated to English as "mode of operation", in which ''operandi'' is a singular genitive
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
(i.e. "of operation"), not a plural of ''operandus'' as is sometimes mistakenly assumed.


Irish

The
Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
also uses a genitive case (''tuiseal ginideach''). For example, in the phrase ''bean an tí'' (woman of the house), ''tí'' is the genitive case of ''teach'', meaning "house". Another example is ''barr an chnoic'', "top of the hill", where ''cnoc'' means "hill", but is changed to ''chnoic'', which also incorporates
lenition In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at a pa ...
.


Mandarin

In
Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...
, the genitive case is made by use of the particle 的 (de). However, about persons in relation to oneself, 的 is often dropped when the context allows for it to be easily understood.


Persian

Old Persian had a true genitive case inherited from
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...
. By the time of
Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle ...
, the genitive case had been lost and replaced by an analytical construction which is now called
Ezāfe Ezāfe ( fa, اضافه, lit=extra), also romanized as ''ezâfe'', ''izafet'', ''izafe'', ''izafat'', ''izāfa'', ''ezafe'', and ''izofa'' ( tg, изофа, izofa), is a grammatical particle found in some Iranian languages, as well as Persian-i ...
. This construction was inherited by
New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thr ...
, and was also later borrowed into numerous other
Iranic The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities. The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separate ...
, Turkic and Indo-Aryan languages of Western and South Asia.


Semitic languages

Genitive case marking existed in
Proto-Semitic Proto-Semitic is the hypothetical reconstructed proto-language ancestral to the Semitic languages. There is no consensus regarding the location of the Proto-Semitic '' Urheimat''; scholars hypothesize that it may have originated in the Levant ( ...
, Akkadian, and
Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic language, classified by some as a dialect of the Amorite language and so the only known Amorite dialect preserved in writing. It is known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeologist ...
. It indicated possession, and it is preserved today only in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
.


Akkadian

:Nominative: ''šarrum'' (king) :Genitive: ''aššat šarrim'' (wife of king = king's wife)


Arabic

Called المجرور ''al-majrūr'' (meaning "dragged") in
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, the genitive case functions both as an indication of ownership (ex. the door of the house) and for nouns following a preposition. :Nominative: ٌبيت ''baytun'' (a house) :Genitive: ٍبابُ بيت ''bābu baytin'' (door of a house) ِبابُ البيت ''bābu l-bayti'' (door of the house) The Arabic genitive marking also appears after prepositions. :e.g. ٍبابٌ لبيت ''bābun li-baytin'' (a door for a house) The Semitic genitive should not be confused with the pronominal possessive suffixes that exist in all the Semitic languages :e.g. Arabic بيتي ''bayt-ī'' (my house) َكتابُك ''kitābu-ka'' (your asc.book).


Slavic languages

With the exception of Bulgarian and Macedonian, all
Slavic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
decline the nouns and adjectives in accordance with the genitive case using a variety of endings depending on the word's lexical category, its gender, number (singular or plural) and in some cases meaning.


Possessives

To indicate possession the ending of the noun indicating the possessor changes depending on the word's ending in the
nominative case In grammar, the nominative case (abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Engl ...
. For example, to ''a, u, i or y'' in
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
, ''а, я, ы or и'' in
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, ''а, я, y, ю, і, и or ей'' in Ukrainian, and similar cases in other Slavic languages. :Nominative: (pol.) "Oto Anton" / (rus.) "Вот Антон" / (ukr.) "Ось Антон" ("Here is Anton"). :Genitive: (pol.) "Oto obiad Antonа" / (rus.) "Вот обед Антона" / (ukr.) "Ось oбід Антона" ("Here is Anton's lunch"). Possessives can also be formed by the construction (pol.) "u ubjectjest bject / (rus.) "У ubjectесть bject/ (ukr.) "у(в) ubjectє bject :Nominative: (pol.) "Oto Anton" / (rus.) "Вот Антон" / (ukr.) "Ось Антон" ("Here is Anton"). :Genitive: (pol.) "u Antonа jest obiad / (rus.) "У Антона есть обед" / (ukr.) "У(В) Антона є обід" ("Anton has a lunch", literally: "(There) is a lunch at Anton's"). In sentences where the possessor includes an associated pronoun, the pronoun also changes: :Nominative: (pol.) Oto mój brat / (rus.) "Вот мой брат"/ (ukr.) "От мій брат" ("Here is my brother"). :Genitive: (pol.) "u mojego bratа jest obiad / (rus.) "У моего брата есть обед" / (ukr.) "У мого брата є обід" ("My brother has a lunch", literally: "(There) is a lunch at my_brother's"). And in sentences denoting negative possession, the ending of the object noun also changes: :Nominative: (pol.) "Oto Irena" / (rus.) "Вот Ирена" / (ukr.) "От Ірена" ("Here is Irene"). :Genitive: (pol.) "Irena nie ma obiadu ("Irene does not have a lunch") or (pol.) "u Ireny nie ma obiadu ("(There) is no lunch at Irene's") Note that the Polish phrase "nie ma bject can work both as a negation of having bjector a negation of an existence of bject but the meaning of the two sentences and its structure is different. (In the first case ubjectis Irene, and in the second case ubjectis virtual, it is "the space" at Irene's place, not Irene herself) :Genitive: (rus.) "У Ирены нет обеда" ("Irene does not have a lunch", literally: "(There) is no lunch at Irene's"). Note that the Russian word "нет" is a contraction of "не" + "есть". In Russian there is no distinction between ubjectnot having an bjectand bjectnot being present at ubjects. :Genitive: (ukr.) "Ірена не має обіду ("Irene does not have a lunch") or (ukr.) "y Ірени нема(є) обіду ("At Irene's does not have a lunch") Note the difference between the spelling "не має bject and "нема(є) bject in both cases.


To express negation

The genitive case is also used in sentences expressing negation, even when no possessive relationship is involved. The ending of the subject noun changes just as it does in possessive sentences. The genitive, in this sense, can only be used to negate nominative, accusative and genitive sentences, and not other cases. :Nominative: (pol.) "(Czy) Maria jest w domu?" / (rus.) "Мария дома?" / (Чи) Марія (є) вдома? ("Is Maria at home?"). :Genitive: (pol.) "Marii nie ma w domu" ("Maria is not at home", literally: " irtual subjecthas no Maria at home") :Genitive: (rus.) "Марии нет дома" ("Maria is not at home", literally: "Of Maria there is none at home."). :Genitive: (ukr.) "Марії нема(є) вдома" ("Maria is not at home", literally: " irtual subjecthas no Maria at home.") :Accusative: (pol.) "Mogę rozczytać twoje pismo" / (rus.) Могу (про)читать твой почерк / (ukr.) Можу (про)читати твій почерк ("I can read your handwriting") :Genitive: (pol.) "Nie mogę rozczytać twojego pisma" / (rus.) "Не могу (про)читать твоего почерка" / (ukr.) "Не можу (про)читати твого почерку" ("I can't read your handwriting") Use of genitive for negation is obligatory in Slovene,
Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
and Old Church Slavonic. Some East Slavic languages ( e.g.
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
and Belorussian) employ either the accusative or genitive for negation, although the genitive is more commonly used. In
Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...
, Slovak and
Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia an ...
, negating with the genitive case is perceived as rather archaic and the accusative is preferred, but genitive negation in these languages is still not uncommon, especially in music and literature.


Partial direct object

The genitive case is used with some verbs and mass nouns to indicate that the action covers only a part of the direct object (having a function of non-existing partitive case), whereas similar constructions using the Accusative case denote full coverage. Compare the sentences: :Genitive: (pol.) "Napiłem się wody" / (rus.) "Я напился воды" / (ukr.) "Я напився води" ("I drank water," i.e. "I drank some water, part of the water available") :Accusative: (pol.) "Wypiłem wodę" / (rus.) "Я выпил воду / (ukr.) "Я випив воду ("I drank the water," i.e. "I drank all the water, all the water in question") In Russian, special
partitive case The partitive case (abbreviated , , or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical case which denotes "partialness", "without result", or "without specific identity". It is also used in contexts where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, or with nu ...
or sub-case is observed for some uncountable nouns which in some contexts have preferred alternative form on -у/ю instead of standard genitive on -а/я: выпил чаю ('drank some tea'), but сорта чая ('sorts of tea').


Prepositional constructions

The genitive case is also used in many prepositional constructions. (Usually when some movement or change of state is involved, and when describing the source / destination of the movement. Sometimes also when describing the manner of acting.) *Czech prepositions using genitive case: od (from), z, ze (from), do (into), bez (without), kromě (excepting), místo (instead of), podle (after, according to), podél (along), okolo (around), u (near, by), vedle (beside), během (during), pomocí (using, by the help of), stran (as regards) etc. *Polish prepositions using genitive case: od (from), z, ze (from), do, w (into), na (onto), bez (without), zamiast (instead of), wedle (after, according to), wzdłuż (along), około (around), u (near, by), koło (beside), podczas (during), etc. *Russian prepositions using genitive case: от (from), с, со (from), до (before, up to), без (without), кроме (excepting), вместо (instead of), после (after), вдоль (along), около (around), у (near, by), во время (during), насчёт (regarding), etc.


Turkish

The Turkish genitive, formed with a genitive suffix for the possessor, is used in combination with a possessive for the possessed entity, formed with a
possessive suffix In linguistics, a possessive affix (from la, affixum possessivum) is an affix (usually suffix or prefix) attached to a noun to indicate its possessor, much in the manner of possessive adjectives. Possessive affixes are found in many languages o ...
. For example, in "my mother's mother", the possessor is "my mother", and the possessed entity is " ermother". In Turkish: :Nominative: ''anne'' ("mother"); :First-person possessive: ''annem'' ("my mother"); :Third-person possessive: ''annesi'' (" omeones mother"); :Genitive of ''annem'': ''annemin'' ("my mother's"); :Genitive and possive combined: ''annemin annesi'' ("my mother's mother", i.e., "my maternal grandmother").


Albanian

The genitive in Albanian is formed with the help of clitics. For example: :Nominative: ''libër'' ('book'); ''vajzë'' ('girl'); :Genitive: ''libri i vajzës'' (the girl's book) If the possessed object is masculine, the clitic is ''i''. If the possessed object is feminine, the clitic is ''e''. If the possessed object is plural, the clitic is ''e'' regardless of the gender. The genitive is used with some prepositions: ''me anë'' ('by means of'), ''nga ana'' ('on behalf of', 'from the side of'), ''për arsye'' ('due to'), ''për shkak'' ('because of'), ''me përjashtim'' ('with the exception of'), ''në vend'' ('instead of').


Dravidian languages


Kannada

In Kannada, the genitive case-endings are: for masculine or feminine nouns ending in "ಅ" (a): ನ (na) * Examples: ''sūrya-na'' ('of the sun') for neuter nouns ending in "ಅ" (a): ದ (da) * Examples: ''mara-da'' ('of the tree') for all nouns ending in "ಇ" (i), "ಈ" (ī), "ಎ" (e), or "ಏ" (ē): ಅ (a) * Examples: ''mane-y-a'' ('of the house'; note that a linking "y" is added between the stem and the suffix) for all nouns ending in "ಉ" (u), "ಊ" (ū), "ಋ" (r̥), or "ೠ" (r̥̄): ಇನ (ina) * Examples; ''guru-v-ina'' ('of the teacher'; note that a linking "v" is added between the stem and the suffix) Most postpositions in Kannada take the genitive case.


Tamil

In Tamil, the genitive case ending is the word உடைய or இன், which signifies possession. Depending on the last letter of the noun, the genitive case endings may vary. If the last letter is a consonant (மெய் எழுத்து), like க், ங், ச், ஞ், ட், ண், த், ந், ப், ம், ய், ர், ல், வ், ழ், then the suffix உடைய/இன் gets added. *Examples: His: அவன் + உடைய = அவனுடைய, Doctor's: மருத்துவர் + உடைய = மருத்துவருடைய, மருத்துவர் + இன் = மருத்துவரின் Kumar's: குமார் + உடைய = குமாருடைய, குமார்+ இன் = குமாரின்


See also

*
Genitive construction In grammar, a genitive construction or genitival construction is a type of grammatical construction used to express a relation between two nouns such as the possession of one by another (e.g. "John's jacket"), or some other type of connection ( ...
*
Possessive case A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict own ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links


German genitive case
A lesson covering the genitive case in the German language *Russian genitive


Genitive Case In Arabic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genitive Case Grammatical cases *