The Genitive Case

The Genitiv (genitive case) is the fourth and final German case. It primarily expresses possession and belonging — it answers the question "whose?" In formal and written German, the genitive is essential; in spoken German, it is often replaced by von + dative, but knowing it is crucial for reading, writing, and formal communication.

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What Is the Genitive Case?

The genitive shows who or what something belongs to:

• Das ist das Auto des Mannes. — That is the man's car. (literally: the car of the man)
• Die Farbe der Blumen ist schön. — The colour of the flowers is beautiful.
• Das Spielzeug des Kindes ist kaputt. — The child's toy is broken.

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Genitive Articles

Definite Articles

Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
Masculine	der	den	dem	des (+s/es on noun)
Feminine	die	die	der	der
Neuter	das	das	dem	des (+s/es on noun)
Plural	die	die	den	der

Indefinite Articles

Gender	Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
Masculine	ein	einen	einem	eines (+s/es)
Feminine	eine	eine	einer	einer
Neuter	ein	ein	einem	eines (+s/es)
Plural	—	—	—	—

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The -s/-es Rule for Masculine and Neuter Nouns

In the genitive, masculine and neuter nouns add -s or -es to the noun itself:

Noun	Genitive	Rule
der Mann	des Mannes	Monosyllabic nouns often take -es
das Kind	des Kindes	Monosyllabic nouns often take -es
der Freund	des Freundes	Nouns ending in -d take -es
das Haus	des Hauses	Nouns ending in -s, -ß, -z, -x take -es
der Vater	des Vaters	Multisyllabic nouns usually take -s
der Lehrer	des Lehrers	Nouns ending in -er take -s
das Auto	des Autos	Nouns ending in a vowel take -s
der Computer	des Computers	Foreign words take -s

Rule of thumb: Add -es to monosyllabic nouns and nouns ending in -s, -ß, -z, -tz, -x, -d, -t. Add -s to longer nouns and foreign words.

Feminine and plural nouns do NOT change their form — only the article changes.

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Genitive in Practice

Expressing Possession

The genitive noun (the possessor) follows the thing possessed:

• die Tasche der Frau — the woman's bag
• der Name des Restaurants — the name of the restaurant
• die Meinung der Leute — the opinion of the people
• das Ende des Films — the end of the film
• die Tür des Hauses — the door of the house

With Proper Names

With proper names, German adds -s (no apostrophe!) before the possessed item:

• Annas Buch — Anna's book
• Deutschlands Geschichte — Germany's history
• Berlins Sehenswürdigkeiten — Berlin's sights

If the name ends in -s, -ß, -z, or -x, use an apostrophe: Hans' Auto, Fritz' Idee.

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