German genitive case: the only guide you’ll ever need

In this example-packed post you’ll discover how to form the German genitive case and what it’s used for. There are some nifty genitive-avoiding workarounds too!

Genitive-avoiding?  

Yep, the first of three good pieces of news about the case is that it’s by far the least-used of German’s four cases. 

Even in higher registers of written German, the genitive can sometimes appear stilted, archaic or over-the-top. In less formal German, especially in conversation, natives often instinctively use alternative structures to get the same ideas across.

The trend has led some to predict the death of the genitive.  

There’s even a book with the witty title Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod (The Dative is the Death of the Genitive) with a spin-off board game (!)  

But, actually, the book isn’t ALL about the genitive…and rumours of its demise are premature. 

Some usages are very common and, in my experience, it crops up a lot more than some German teachers would have you believe. 

The genitive may be down, but it certainly ain’t out. 

As an intermediate learner, you won’t need to use it much…but you certainly do need to recognise it. 

So, you’ll be glad of a second piece of good news: the genitive endings are not complicated. In this post, you’ll find them set them out back-of-a postcard style. I’ll also explain the uses of the genitive and give you lots of examples. 

But first, here’s a third source of comfort: in form and use, you’ll see that the German genitive has marked parallels with English (did you even know that English, too has a genitive or “possessive” case?).

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When is the German genitive case used? A quick overview

This post gives you the low-down on the genitive and it’s free standing. If, however, you’re unsure about how the German case system operates in general, the best place to start is my overview post: German cases made simple (without endless tables).

To express possession and other noun-noun relationship

You’ll often come across the genitive in German, where in English we’d use “of” or an apostrophe + s to link two nouns to express possession: das Haus des Mannes (the man’s house/the house of the man); das neue Kleid der Frau (the woman’s new dress/the new dress of the woman). 

In these examples, the possession is literal ownership but the genitive is also used (in English and German) to show various loser relationships between two nouns. 

Here are some examples: 

• eine Frau guten Willens (a woman of good will)(thing + a quality it has); 
• eine große Anzahl Hersteller (a large number of manufacturers); am Anfang der Woche (at the beginning of the week); ein Viertel seines Energiebedarfs  (a third of his/its energy requirements)(part + larger whole);
• ein Glas Biers (a glass of Beer; literally “a beer’s glass”)(quantity + thing); 
• der Abflug des Flugzeuges (something done + doer)(the aeroplane’s departure/the departure of the aeroplane; die Befreiung der Geiseln (the freeing of the hostages);
• die Verteilung des Geldes (the distribution of the money)(something done + thing it’s done to);
• die Beschreibung des Journalisten (the journalist’s description/the description of the journalist)(thing + narrower definition of thing).

With some prepositions

A small number of prepositions also use the genitive. One of the first that learners often meet is  “wegen” (because, on account of):

• Wegen der Kälte ziehe ich mir warme Kleidung an (Because of the cold weather, I’m putting on warm clothes). 

For many examples, see the “Prepositions” section, below. 

With some expressions of time

There are some genitive expressions of indefinite or habitual time:

• “eines Tages” (on one day) or morgens (mornings/of a morning)

For more, see “Time expressions”, below.

With a some verbs, adverbs and adjective

The German genitive is also used with a small number of verbs, adverbs and adjectives but these are very low frequency (mainly in a formal style) (see “Verbs” section below).

In a number of common “set phrases”

There are other “set phrases” where the genitive is used. Some are very literary but a few are used often in the informal language, such as:

• “ich bin der Ansicht, dass” (I think/my view is, that; literally: I am of the view, that”)

See “Set phrases”, below.

Avoiding the German genitive

Very often, for possession (or other noun + noun combos) Germans instinctively replace the genitive with “von” + dative. So, das Haus des Mannes > das Haus vom Mann; eine Frau guten Willens > eine Frau von guten Willen; ein Viertel seines Energiebedarfs > ein Viertel von seinem Energiebedarf…. 

With supposedly “genitive” prepositions the dative is often used.  

Yet sometimes the more natural way to avoid the genitive is to use a preposition other than “von”, to rephrase something more fundamentally or, in the case of verbs requiring the genitive, simply to use a more common, everyday verb that has the same meaning. 

You’ll find more details on “workarounds” like these with the examples later in this post.

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How to form the German genitive case

Above, I’ve coloured the genitive endings in the examples above. Here’s an overview of genitive endings.

	m	n	f	pl
name of person, place, etc.	-s or -‘	-s or -‘	-s or -‘	—
other nouns	-(e)s, -n	-(e)s -n	__	usual plural
genitive marker (“strong”) (add to der, ein, dies- etc)	-(e)s,	-(e)s,	-er	-er
genitive marker (“strong”) (adjective without der, ein, dies- etc)	-en	-en	-er	-er
adjective after strong genitive marker	-en	-en	-en	-en

No ending

There is no ending added to feminine nouns in the genitive and no change to the usual plural noun ending found in the nominative or accusative cases.

Many nouns borrowed from other languages and most foreign geographical names don’t have a genitive ending. 

If you use a name with a title, the ending is on the title only:

• das Auto des Professors Schmidt (Professor Schmidt’s car). 

The -s ending

The -s ending is familiar to us from the apostrophe “s” genitive/possessive ending in English. 

In German, though, you don’t use an apostrophe! 

In German the -s is added to the end of most masculine or neuter nouns.

With the definite article “der” (the) you simply replace the last -r with that genitive -s:

• der Koffer > des Koffers

When the masculine/neuter noun has just one syllable ending in a consonant, the ending is often -es:

• der Freund > des Freundes 

It’s the same with other noun “qualifiers” (of a masculine or neuter singular noun) that follow the “der” pattern:

• dieser (this) > dieses; jener (that) > jenes; Welcher? (Which?) > Welches?; mancher (many a) > manches; solcher (such) > solches  (and friends).

To form the genitive of the masculine/neuter indefinite article “ein” (a/an), simply add -es. In the same way:

• “kein” becomes keines: Ich bin keines Mannes Sklave (I’m slave to no man, lit: I’m no man’s slave).

The masculine/neuter possessive adjectives also gain -es:

• mein (my) > meines; dein (your – informal) > deines; sein/ihr (his, its/her) > seines/ihres, unser (our) > unseres, Ihr/euer (plural your – formal/plural your – informal) > Ihres/eures; ihr (their) > ihres.  

Remember, the ending follows the gender if the thing possessed (not the possessor): 

• Sie hielt eine lange Ansprache beim Hochzeitsempfang ihres Freundes > She gave a long speech at her friend’s wedding reception. 

You’ll spot the -s too in the masculine/neuter relative pronoun dessen (see separate section below). 

In German, like in English, names of specific people  (named pets etc) and places are written in German with an initial capital letter.  Regardless of gender, these “proper” nouns take an -s. 

Just as with the genitive of masculine and neuter “common nouns”, there’s usually no English-style apostrophe before the -s ending of a proper name.  

It would be difficult to say two “s” sounds one after the other so, in an exception to this rule, if the proper name ends in a hissy s, ß, tz, z, or -x (“sibilants”) there’s no ending at all in speech and just an apostrophe (but no second “s”) in writing. 

You see the same in English (we would normally say and write Dr Popkins’ blog, though in English you have the option of adding an -es sound, written Dr Popkins’s).

With proper names (unlike with nouns) the possessor often comes first:

• Frau Merkels Haus

If you switched this round, you’d use the article:

• Das Haus der Frau Merkel

-r ending

Add – r to feminine and plural definite article (and other “der words”): die > der. Also add the -r to the feminite indefinite article “eine” (and other “ein words”). 

It’s the same with other noun “qualifiers” (of a feminine singular noun or plural (all genders) that follow the “der” pattern:

• diese (this) > dieser; jene (that) > jener; Welche? (Which?) > Welcher?; manche (many a) > mancher; solche (such) > solcher  (and friends).

To form the genitive of the feminie indefinite article “eine” (a/an), simply change “die” to “der”. In the same way, “keine” becomes keiner.

The feminine singular/all plural possessive adjectives also gain -er:

• meine (my) > meiner; deine (your – informal) > deiner; seine/ihr (his, its/her) > seiner/ihrer, unsere (our) > unserer, Ihre/eure (plural your – formal/plural your – informal) > Ihrer/eurer; ihre (their) > ihrer.  

When adjectives used on their own before a feminine or plural noun without a preceding “der word” or “ein word”, there’s no “determiner” to flag the genitive, so the adjective becomes “strong” and does the heavy lifting:

• Statt schwarzer Schuhe trage ich heute braune.

You’ll spot the -r in the feminine/plural relative pronoun deren (of which/whose) as well (see below).

-en ending

Some mascucline nouns called “weak nouns” end in -en in the genitive (and in all other cases than the singular and plural nominative).  

There are only a few native German words in this group: these are mainly living things. 

Most end in -e in the nominative:

• der Franzose, der Affe der Junge > des Jungen (pl. die Jungen > der Jungen).

There are some “weak” masculine nouns that don’t end in -e in the nominative such as:

• der Herr > des Herrn, der Mensch > des Menschen; der Spatz (sparrow) > des Spatzen  

There’s a longer list of masculine nouns loaned from other languages that take -en in all cases (except the singular or plural nominative). This group includes words that end in a stressed -ant, -ant, -aph, -arch, -at, -ent, -et, -ist, -krat, -log, -nom, -at:

• der Student > des Studenten; der Biologe > des Biologen

Don’t confuse -en words with a few abstract masculine nouns that end in -e in the nominative, which end -ens in the genitive singular:

• der Name > des Namens, der Friede > des Friedens; der Buchstabe > des Buchstabens

There are a few neuter nouns like this as well:

• das Herz > des Herzens

Before masculine or neuter nouns, adjectives also take -n, whether they’re used on their own (“strong”), with der (and friends)(“weak”) or with ein (and friends)(“mixed”): 

• Statt dieses alten Fahrrads, kaufe ich ein neues

That’s an exception to the rule that German adjectives usually strengthen up to flag the case then there isn’t a preceding “der” or “ein” word to do this for them. 

You can see the normal rule again when an adjective is used before feminine and plural nouns when after a “der” or “ein” word. The “der” or “ein” word will already have flagged the case the genitive “-r” ending. The adjective can relax into its normal weak form: 

• Statt einer alten Frau ist ein junger Mann gekommen.

Wessen?  

In English, the question “Who?” has the genitive/possessive form “Whose?” 

In German the nominative Wer? becomes “Wessen?” in the genitive. It’s a fixed form (doesn’t change for gender or in the plural):

• Wessen ist das? Whose is this? 
• Wessen Hut ist schwarz? Whose hat is black?

In English, it’d be natural to ask “Whose photos are these?” But in German, instead of “Wessen Fotos sind das”, you’d probably say (or write) “Wem gehören diese Fotos” (To whom do these photos belong/Who do these photos belong to?).

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German genitive personal pronouns 

Personal pronouns are often used instead of a noun to answer a “Who” question.  Who’s there? They are (instead of repeating the name of the persons); Whose is it? It’s hers. To whom will you send the letter?  To them…. 

	First	Second	Third	First	Second	Third
Nom	ich (I)	du/Sie (thou)	er/es/sie (s/he, it)	wir (we)	ihr /Sie (you)	sie (they)
Acc	mich (me)	dich (thee)	ihn/es/sie (him, her, it)	uns (us)	euch/Sie (you)	sie (them)
Dat	mir	dir/ Ihnen	ihm/ihr	uns	euch/ Ihnen	ihnen (them)
Gen	meiner (mine)	deiner (thine)	seiner/ihrer (his/hers/its)	unser (ours)	euer/ Ihrer (yours)	ihrer theirs)

Unlike their English equivalents, German genitive pronouns sound stilted, though.  

There are special forms used with wegen, um…willen, halber (for the sake of):

• meinetwegen; deinetwegen; um ihrentwillen, um unsertwillen, seinethalben.

In colloquial speech, you’d tend to hear the dative used with a preposition (and even read) “wegen dir” instead of “wegen deiner/deinetwegen” (because of me), as Bavarian singer Nikki can explain far better than me (or is that “better than I”?)….

 We’ll see below that the verb sich entsinnen (to remember) takes a genitive object:

• Er entsinnt sich meiner (He remembers me).

A much more common way of saying this is sich erinnern an + Accusative:

• Er erinnert sich an mich (He remembers me).

Other times, it’s possible to paraphrase to avoid the genitive construction:

• “Was sie betrifft” not “hinsichtlich ihrer” (concerning her).

The German genitive relative pronouns dessen and deren  

Relative pronouns refer additional information back to a noun mentioned elsewhere in another part of the sentence. They either identify that noun more closely or add more information about it. They’re how we join two potentially free-standing sentences. 

• Das ist die Frau + Der Sohn der Frau ist krank > Das ist die Frau, deren Sohn krank ist (This a woman + The woman’s son is ill > This is the woman whose son is ill).
• Gunter hat einen Freund + Die Mutter von Gunters Freund ist Schauspielerin > Gunter hat einen Freund, dessen Mutter Schauspielerin ist (Gunter has a friend + The friend’s mother is an actress > Gunter has a friend whose mother is an actress).

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Uses of the German genitive case in depth (and ways that Germans avoid it!)

Let’s look at the uses of the genitive in German in more detail. I’ll include lots more examples as it’s always best to learn patterns like the genitive in the context of a short phrase or “chunk” of correct German. 

I’ll continue to highlight the genitive markers in the examples below and if any are still not clear you can scroll back up to the explanation above on How to form the genitive.  

The German genitive of “possession”

As we’ve seen, when one noun in a noun-noun pair is in the genitive, the relationship between them is often one of possession in the literal sense of belonging or ownership. Here are some more examples: 

• der Hund des Kindes ist krank (das Kind; the child’s dog is ill).
• das Haus der Tochter ist schӧn (die Tochter; the daughter’s house/house of the daughter is lovely).
• das Haus der Männer ist groẞ (die Männer; the men’s house/house of the men is large).
• die Schwester meines Freundes ist jung (my friend’s sister/friend of my sister is jung).
• Das neue Kleid der Frau ist blau (the woman’s new dress is blue).
• Wir sind in der Nӓhe seines Hauses (We are close to his House, lit: We are in the area of his house).

As you can see from all these examples, it’s usual for the possessed (e.g. der Hund, das Haus) to come first, followed by the possessor (des Kindes, der Männer). 

We saw in the summary that with “proper names” (specific names that we’d write with a capital letter in English, typically the name of a person or a place) the genitive is formed by adding -s or an apostrophe.

• Frau Merkels Haus
• Hannas Freund
• Ich besuche heute Abend Markus’ Schwester.
• Anna hat Marias Kuchen gegessen. 

When you name somebody with a title, just the title takes the genitive. 

Remember that some common German titles are -en nouns:

• die Wohnung des Herrn Braun
• das Fahrrad des Professoren Müller.

Here are some “geographical” proper name examples:

• Deutschlands Hauptstadt
• Englands Königin
• Wiens Museen

Avoiding the German genitive with “von + dative” to express possession

The “proper name genitive” is still alive and kicking even in spoken German but the other examples above are often avoided in everyday speech.  

The usual “workaround” is that alternative possessive pattern that we already know from English: replace -‘s with “of the”: 

the man’s house > the house of the man 

You can do the same in German with von + dative:

• das Haus des Mannes > das Haus von dem Mann
• das Haus der jungen Tochter > das Haus von der jungen Tochter
• das Haus der alten Freunde > das Haus von den alten Freunden

If you’re talking about “possession” in the sense of belonging to a location other prepositions could work better than “von”: 

• Wiens Museen > die Museen von Wien; die Museen in Wien
• die Brücken der Donau > die Brücken über die Donau; die Brücken an der Donau

Sometimes, a compound word does the trick: die Dounaubrücken.

Often, the genitive -(e)s is used to form the compound: der Monatsanfang; die Bundeshauptstadt, die Bundesliga.  

One workaround is useful in phrases where the possessive noun-noun pair together form one subject (X+Y) that is then described with SEIN + adjective.  

For example:

• Die Schwester meines Freundes ist jung”
• Das Haus der Männer ist groẞ.
• Das neue Kleid der Frau ist blau.

In this case, you can rephrase like like this: my/his/our etc X (NOMINATIVE) “has” an [adjective] Y (ACCUSATIVE) pattern:

• Mein Freund hat eine junge Schwester.
• Der Männer haben ein groẞes Haus.
• Die Frau hat ein neues Kleid.

One final “genitives” workaround is to put the “possessor” in the genitive with a possessive adjective:

• Das ist meiner Mutter ihr Buch (That is my mother’s book, literally: that is to my mother the book).
• Unserem Onkel sein Garten ist schӧn (Our uncle’s garden is lovely, literally: To our uncle the garden is lovely).

This construction is not regarded as standard German, but it’s very common in colloquial speech, especially in southern Germany. 

Here’s one more example:

• Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod…..  😉 

As you listen and read, keep your ears and eyes open for examples that you can use and model.  

Listen to how Germans speak English, too! You’ll sometimes hear them overuse possessive “of” constructions in English. A German might well say “the pen of my aunt” where in English the genitive would be more natural: “my aunt’s pen”.  

That’s the influence of their native language (or should that be “That’s their native language’s influence 😉 ) 

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Other ways to avoid German genitive noun + noun combinations

We saw above that not all noun-noun relationships in the genitive involve possession. 

While “von” + dative works well for possession, with some of the loser noun-noun genitive combos, another you’d hear other workarounds. 

Thing + qualify of that thing: When the quality described is the material that something is made of use “von”, use “aus” + dative: 

• ein Becher reinen Silbers (a cup out of pure silver / a pure silver cup) > ein Becher aus reinem Silber.

Part + larger whole: If the part is a subset of countable nouns, you could use “von” but  “unter” + Dativ works, too:

• die ӓlteste ihrer Kinder (the oldest of her children) > die ӓlteste unter ihren Kindern (the oldest “among” her children).

Quantity + thing: Very often the “whole” in the nominative simply follows the quantity:

• ein Glas Biers (a glass of Beer; literally “a beer’s glass”) > ein Glas Bier
• zwei Tassen Kaffees > zwei Tassen Kaffee

With feminine or plural nouns, there’s no difference anyway:

• ein Sack Baumwolle
• ein Kilo Tomaten

Something done + thing it’s done to: Sometimes it’s unclear whether we’re talking about the “doer” (subject genitive) or the “done to” (object genitive). For example:

• die Beschreibung des Journalisten

This could mean either the description “by the journalist” (journalist as subject) or “about the journalist” (the journalist as object). 

You might well hear “von” used instead in the usual workaround way, but that won’t remove the ambiguity:

• die Beschreibung des Journalisten > die Beschreibung von den Journalisten

The context will usually make things clear but, if you mean “by” not “about”, you could replace the “doer” (genitive subject) with “durch” + accusative (“though” in the sense of “through the agency of”): 

• die Beschreibung des Journalisten > die Beschreibung durch den Journalisten

German genitive prepositions

Prepositions are (usually small) words that typically come before a noun, pronoun (or a “noun phrase” also including a “die word” or an “ein word” with or without an adjective). Prepositions they typically indicate position, place, agency: in, through, with, by etc.

In German a large number propositions are followed by a noun (or noun phrase) in the genitive case. The good news is that most of these are very formal (only really found in the written language, for example in official documents).

As an intermediate student you need to be aware of four high-frequency “genitive prepositions”:

an(statt)(instead of):

• Statt eines Hemdes habe ich einen Pulli angezogen (Instead of a shirt, I put on a pullover).
• Statt der Flasche haben wir ein Marmeladenglas gefüllt (Instead of a bottle, we filled a jam jar).

trotz (despite, in spite of):

• Trotz des heißen Sommers…. (Despite the hot summer…)

während (during):

• während des Tages (during the day)
• während der nächsten Wochen (during the coming weeks)
• während der Fahrt bitte nicht mit dem Fahrer sprechen (please do not speak to the driver during the journey).

“wegen” (because of, on account of): 

• Ich bleibe zu Hause wegen meiner starken Kopfschmerzen (I’m staying at home because of my bad headache).
• Man telefoniert nicht beim Autofahren wegen gesetzliches Verbotes (You shouldn’t telephone when driving because it’s forbidden by law).
• Ich bin heute zuhause geblieben wegen des schlechten Wetters (I stayed at home today because of the bad weather).
• Wegen der Kälte ziehe ich mir warme Kleidung an (Because of the cold weather, I’m putting on warm clothes).

You’ll often hear Germans use the dative directly with all the examples above. Because the two cases are the same in the feminine singular, the difference only in the masculine and neuter singular and in the plural:

• Statt einem Hemd, habe ich einen Pulli angezogen.
• trotz des heißen Sommers > trotz dem heißen Sommers
• wegen des schlechten Wetters > wegen dem schlechten Wetter
• Während der Fahrt….  (genitive and dative forms are the same). 
• Während den nächsten Wochen…. (genitive and dative forms the same)

Keep a lookout for the eight “genitive prepositions” that show “position”.

Two of them you need to know as a lower intermediate learner:

innerhalb (within – space and time): 

• Diese Fahrkarte gilt nur innerhalb der Stadt (This ticket is only valid within the town).
• Nach dem Umzug müssen Sie sich innerhalb einer Woche ummelden (You must change your residency registration within a week of moving house). 

außerhalb (outside of):

• Wir wohnen außerhalb Berlins (We live outside (of) Berlin).

To avoid außerhalb or innerhalb, you could use “von” (+ dative):  Because the two cases are the same in the feminine singular, the difference only in the masculine and neuter singular and in the plural. 

As an upper intermediate learner, you might want to know the remaining six prepositions in this group:

oberhalb (above) and unterhalb (below, underneath). There meaning is more specific than just “über” or “unter”:

beiderseits (on both sides of), diesseits (on this side of), jenseits (beyond):

• beiderseits der Grenze (on both sides of the frontier)
• Es stehen Häuser beiderseits des Flusses (there are houses on both sides of the river).
• diesseits der Alpen (on this side of the Alps)
• diesseits und jenseits des Atlantik (on both sides of the Atlantic)
• jenseits der Stille (beyond silence)

You’ll find all six prepositions used with “von” (+ dative) instead of the genitive:

• beiderseits der Grenze > beiderseits von der Grenze
• Es stehen Häuser beiderseits des Flusses > Es stehen Häuser beiderseits von der Fluss (there are houses on both sides of the river).

Instead of oberhalb and unterhalb, you’ll often simply be able to use, “über” (+ dative) or “unter” (+ dative).

To avoid jenseits, say “hinter” (+ dative).

The six pronouns are can be used directly with the dative relative pronoun, instead of the genitive one:

• …das Gebiet, innerhalb dessen es keine Hochhäuser gibt (the area, within which there are no tall buildings) > die Gebiet, innerhalb dem es keine Hochhäuser gibt.

unweit (not far from):

• unweit des Dorfes (not far from the village).

For unweit, you could say “nicht weit von (+ dative) entfern”.

German genitive verbs

In very formal official or literary styles, a small number of verbs are used with the genitive but in most contexts today, you’ll find them either avoided in favour of another verb or used with the accusative or with a preposition + accusative. 

You’re unlikely to come across any of these verbs until at least upper intermediate and will probably always use a different verb in both your conversation and writing.  

Here are four examples of verbs with a genitive object: 

bedürfen to need (instead, use brauchen + ACC; benӧtigen + ACC):

• Er bedarf unserer Hilfe nicht > er braucht unsere Hilfe nicht (He doesn’t need our help).
• entbehren to lack (often used with an accusative object instead of a genitive one).
• gedenken to remember (in the sense of “to remembrance”). Less formal is denken an + ACC.
• harren to await anxiously. This is very formal (and comes up in traditional translations of the bible). Use warten auf + ACC.

There are also a number of reflexive verbs in the “genitive object” list:

• sich bedienen to use (more common: benutzen, gebrauchen, verwenden). For example: Er bedient sich der modernsten verfügbaren Technik > Er benutzt die modernste Technik (He makes use of the most modern technology).
• sich schӓmen be ashamed of (use sich schӓmen für + ACC / wegen + GEN or DAT). For example: Man schӓmte sich ihrer (people were ashamed of them) > Man schӓmte sich für si;e Er schӓmte sich seiner Herkunft (he was ashamed of his origins); Sie schӓmt sich seines Verhaltens > Sie schӓmt sich wegen seines Verhaltens/über sein Verhalten)(She is ashamed of his behaviour).

Some other reflexive genitive verbs:

• sich annehmen (look after, take care of – more common: sich kümmern um + ACC); sich annehmen (look after, take care of – more common: sich kümmern um + ACC); sich bemӓchtigen (to seize – more common: ergreifen + ACC, nehmen + ACC); sich entsinnen (to remember – more common: sich erinnern an + ACC); sich erfreuen (to enjoy – genieẞen – more common: sich freuen über + acc); sich erwehren (to refrain from doing something – sich wehren gegen + ACC); sich rühmen (to boast about – more common: stolz sein über + ACC); sich vergewissern (to make sure, two alternatives: nachprüfen + ACC or überprüfen + ACC).

There are also a handful of very formal verbs that take a genitive and an accusative object:

• anklagen (to accuse – used in formal legal contexts, otherwise: anklagen wegen + GEN/DAT); berauben (to rob – more common: einem etwas rauben). Es beraubt die kleinen Mitgliedstaaten ihres Vetorechts (It deprives the small member states of their right of veto); versichern (to assume – more common: einem etwas zusichern).

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Time expressions in the German genitive case

These genitive expressions of time are “adverbial phrases of time”, that’s to say, they describe when an action (verb) takes place. 

They’re pretty indefinite (we’re not talking 06:45 next Friday morning here): eines Tages (one day); eines Samstags (one Saturday). It’s rather literary to add in an adjective: eines kalten Tages; eines sonnigen Samstags (Montags, Dienstags etc). Notice the idiomatic “eines Nachts” (one night – even though die Nacht is feminine).

Some of these genitive time expressions some that refer to periods of the day or days of the week that are so common that they are now thought of as simple adverbs (rather than a capitalised noun in the genitive): morgens, werktags, freitags, Donnerstag abends and so on. 

They are often used to describe something habitual (“morgens trinke ich immer einen Espresso”).

That final (genitive) -s (morgens) isn’t an -s plural ending. 

These simple adverbs can refer to one occasion:

• Nachmittags machten wir einen Spaziergang.

This could be referring to one, specific occasion: “In the afternoon we went for a walk.” If you want to make it clear that you’re talking about a repeated habit you could add: 

• Nachmittags machten wir immer/gewӧhnlich/seltsam einen Spaziergang (Of an afternoon/in the afternoon(s) we always/usually/rarely went for a walk). 

German genitive adverbs 

“Adverbs” are used with verbs, adjectives or other adverbs to give more information about when, where, how or in what circumstances something happens (e.g. “now”, “slowly”, “angrily”, “very”)

Besides the adverbial time expressions, some other adverbs are used with the genitive. Here are some of the more common ones. 

They crop up in the conversational language, and they’re best learnt as “set phrases”.

• letzten Endes (after all)
• meines Erachtens (in my view)
• allen Ernstes (in all seriousness)
• leichten/schweren Herzens  (with a light / heavy heart)
• Sie fährt erster Klasse (she travels first class).
• meines Wissens  (to my knowledge)

German genitive adjectives

There are a small number of adjectives that require the genitive case. These are mainly found in written German and there are often less formal ways of saying the same thing. For example: 

• fähig (capable) (use zu + DAT): Er ist einer solchen Tat nicht fähig > Er ist zu einem solchen Tat nicht fähig (He is not capable of such a deed). 
• schuldig (guilty): Der Angeklagte ist des Verbrechens schuldig .
• voll (full of):  sie fühlen sich entspannt und voll neuer Energie. They feel relaxed and full of new energy.  This voll + adjective + noun pattern is often replaced by “voll von + DAT”: voll von neuer Energie.  “Voll mit + DAT” is also common: ein Korb voll mit grünen Äpfeln. When the noun is on its own you’ll  usually find “voll(er) + NOM”, for example ein Korb voller Äpfeln; eine Tasche voll(er) Münzen (a pocket full of coins).
• wert (worthy of)(often found with ACC): Das ist nicht der Mühe wert or Das ist nicht die Mühe wert (It’s not worth the effort).

Set phrases using the German genitive 

It’s best to think of the examples of adjectives and adverbs + genitives that we’ve seen above as set phrases.  Here are some other useful “set phrases” using the genitive that you can use as an intermediate student starting to express your views and attitudes more freely in German: 

• ich bin der Ansicht, dass…  I am of the view that/my view is that/I think that…
• ich bin der Auffassung, dass….  I am of the opinion that/my opinion is that/I think that…
• Er ist der festen Überzeugung… he’s firmly convinced that…
• Wir sind der Meinung, dass…   Our view is that….

And here are some less common, upper intermediate phrases:

• Wir sind gleichen Alters.  We are of the same age.
• Er ist guter Dinge. He is in good spirits.
• Das Wort ist lateinischen Ursprungs. The word is of Latin origin. 

How to use the German genitive case: practical tips to go

If you’ve read this far, you’re now an expert on the genitive case. You shouldn’t need much more by way of explanation, even if you’re a very advanced learner.

By way of a happy ending (for intermediate learners who’ve just read the overview sections at the top of this post and for skimmers who’ve scrolled straight from the title) remember these practical takeaways:

Don’t stress over the genitive. 

First, its form is really rather familiar and simple. Second, you can often avoid it in conversation, as Germans themselves do. 

Second, don’t learn it all at once. I’ve flagged above what you don’t need to know as a lower intermediate. It boils down to the endings and other special genitive forms, the general potential uses of the case (possession, other noun + noun relationships, with certain prepositions, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and in certain set phrases.

You need to recognise and understand it well as you move into intermediate, though.

When you feel ready, give the genitive some love. 

It will repay your affection and, as you get more confident and develop a feel, you’ll find yourself using it too.

In your new-found enthusiasm, just don’t overdo it! 😉  

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