The Genitive Case

English Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
The des der des der
A eines einer eines  
  • Used to express possession
    • In English possession is shows with an apostrophe + s e.g the girl's ball
  • Answers whose? (wessen?)
  • Used most often in written German
    • In spoken German, von (from) and the dative case is used instead
  • Masculine and neuter forms require either an -s or es ending
    • Single syllable words take an es ending
    • Multiple syllables take an -s ending
    • Examples
      • Der Koffer des Mannes (The man's suitcase)
      • Die Spielzeuge des Kindes (The child's toys)
      • Das Buch meines Bruders (My brother's book)
      • Das Auto meiner Schwester (My sister's car)
  • Examples
    • My father's house
      • Das Haus meines Vaters (Genitive case)
      • Das Haus von meinen Vater (Dative case)
  • Prepositions that take genitive case
    • anstatt (instead of)
    • außerhalb (outside of)
    • innerhalb (inside of)
    • trotz (despite)
    • während (during)
    • wegen (because of)