Genitive Case: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what the genitive case is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on genitive cases, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

Your writing, at its best

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant

What is the genitive case?

According to Walden, there are many different forms of verbs in the English language, some of which are regular verbs and some are irregular verbs in different tenses. 

  •   Gerund tense or gerund phrase 
  •   Simple conditional tense
  •   Past progressive/continuous tense
  •   Simple present tense
  •   Imperative tense
  •   To-infinitive tense
  •   Future perfect tense
  •   Infinitive tense
  •   Future perfect progressive tense
  •   Simple past tense
  •   Conditional progressive tense
  •   Present participle tense
  •   Past progressive tense
  •   Future progressive tense
  •   Conditional perfect tense
  •   Bare infinitive tense
  •   Past participle tense
  •   Conditional perfect progressive tense
  •   Simple future tense
  •   Present perfect progressive tense 
  •   Present continuous tense
  •   Present subjunctive tense
  •   Past perfect progressive tense
  •   Present perfect progressive/continuous tense
  •   Indicative tense
  •   Present indicative tense
  •   Present progressive tense
  •   Perfect passive tense
  •   Past perfect tense
  •   Present perfect tense
  •   Present perfect continuous tense
  •   Conditional tense

Today we will explore the genitive case. There are many cases in English such as the accusative case or nominative case. According to Thought Co, the word genitive comes from the Latin word meaning to beget. The genitive case or genitive function, therefore, is a noun or pronoun’s inflected form that shows ownership, measurement, association, or source. In English, this is marked by the suffix ‘s and can also be indicated by an of phrase after a noun. The possessive determiners my, your, his, her(s), its, our, and their(s) are sometimes regarded as genitive pronouns. These are also called possessive pronouns or possessive adjectives. These show possession and always have an apostrophe in English. These can be used with singular nouns or plural nouns. In other languages, the conjugation can depend on if they are masculine nouns or feminine nouns.

German also uses the genitive case using the below genitive prepositions and pronouns, which are different if the nouns end in en or es. In other Slavic languages, the ending of the noun is an indicator such as a, u, i or y in Polish, а, я, ы or и in Russian, а, я, y, ю, і, и or ей in Ukrainian according to PA.

  •  laut (according to)
  •  eines
  •  außerhalb (outside of)
  •  statt (instead of)
  •  während (during, in the course of)
  •  angesichts (in view of)
  •  beiderseits (on both sides of)
  •  der
  •  jenseits (on the other side of)
  •  eines
  •  diesseits (this side of)
  •  trotz (in spite of)
  •  wegen (because of)
  •  innerhalb (inside of)
  •  des
  •  anstatt (instead of)
  •  einer
  •  der

Do you know the following Russian words? Ой, воды. Außerhalb, брата, ов, ев, ие, ий, есть ого, его их, стакан, ых, её, стол. In certain languages, the subject of the sentence determines if you use the genitive singular ending, spelling rules, and more. 

Many different languages also contain words that mean genitive case. You may notice that some of these translations of genitive case look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of genitive case is provided by Word Sense

  •  Portuguese: genitivo‎
  •  Estonian: omastav‎
  •  Danish: genitiv‎
  •  German: genitivisch‎
  •  Hebrew: יחס הקניין‎
  •  Turkish: tamlayan‎
  •  Icelandic: eignarfall‎ (in compounds)
  •  Latin: genetivus‎
  •  Hungarian: birtokos‎
  •  Arabic: إِضَافِيّ‎, جَرِّيّ‎
  •  Basque: genitibo‎
  •  Slovak: genitívny‎
  •  Slovene: rodilniški‎
  •  Catalan: genitiu‎
  •  Swedish: genitiv‎
  •  French: génitif‎ (masc.), génitive‎ (fem.)
  •  Polish: dopełniacz‎
  •  Russian: роди́тельный‎
  •  Old English: Agniendlic casus‎
  •  Czech: genitivní‎
  •  Spanish: genitivo‎
  •  Bulgarian: родителен‎ (rodítelen)
  •  Dutch: genitief‎ (masc.)
  •  Georgian: ნათესაობითი‎, ნათესაობითი ბრუნვა‎
  •  Mandarin: 所有‎
  •  Japanese: 属格‎ (ぞっかく, zokkaku), (for Slavic) 生格‎ (せいかく, seikaku)
  •  Galician: xenitivo‎ (masc.)
  •  Scottish Gaelic: ginideach‎
  •  Finnish: genetiivi‎, genetiivinen‎

What is an example of genitive case pronouns?

The genitive case can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of genitive cases that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  Take a look at these genitive case examples. 

  •  “Some of the flakes land on the Chevrolet’s hood and windshield, and when Ann reaches out the wing window to brush them away, the confetti clings to her hand,” (Parker 1993).
  •  The cat are the bone of the dog.
  •  “Mama Sim took off the girl’s shoes, pulled the covers up to her shoulders, then smoothed her hair as it fanned across the pillow,” (Letts 2008).
  •  The toddler ate the dog’s bone
  •  “So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea,” (Dahl 1988).
  •  “[H]e stood up and concentrated on the shoes of the girl in front of him, a sleepy girl who kept leaning into the shoulder of a blond boy so that she could lift and twirl her foot whenever the crowd halted. The soles of her shoes were lime green, beautiful and astonishing,” (Kane 2010).
  •  I hit my leg on the edge of the table
  •  I hate Carl’s new haircut.
  •  Please excuse me while I go to the women’s room. 
  •  I went to Carly’s house to study for the exam.
  •  I cleaned dad’s car as my punishment for using it all night. 
  •  I had to go to my grandma’s house last weekend. 

Overall, in modern English the genitive case is a case of possession. 

Sources:

  1. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED
  2. genitive: meaning, origin, translation | Word Sense 
  3. Definition and Examples of the Genitive Case in English | Thought Co 
  4. Genitive Case | What Is the Genitive Case? | Grammar Monster 
  5. Verb Forms: “-ing,” Infinitives, and Past Participles – Grammar – Academic Guides | Walden University 
  6. Genitive Case in Russian | Russian cases | On-line school Pa-russki!