The Genitive Case
Meet the fourth and final German case: the genitive marks possession and belonging — die Unterschrift des Mieters — and dominates official letters, notices and formal writing.
The fourth case
You have worked with three cases since A1: nominative for the subject, accusative for the direct object, dative for the indirect object and after certain prepositions. German has exactly one more, and B1 is where it becomes unavoidable: the genitive, the case of possession and belonging.
The genitive answers the question wessen? — whose? Das Auto meines Bruders — my brother's car. Die Tür des Hauses — the door of the house. Where English says of the or uses an apostrophe with s, German changes the article and often the noun itself.
You will meet the genitive far more often in reading than in casual conversation. Rental contracts, letters from authorities, notices in the stairwell — official German loves this case. Learning to recognise it instantly is the difference between skimming a letter from your landlord and misunderstanding it.
Das Auto meines Bruders steht vor dem Haus.
My brother's car is parked in front of the house.
Die Tür des Hauses ist schon wieder kaputt.
The door of the house is broken again.
Am Ende des Monats bekomme ich mein Gehalt.
At the end of the month I receive my salary.
Time expressions like am Ende des Monats and am Anfang des Jahres are everyday genitives.
The forms: des, der, des, der
The genitive articles are pleasingly symmetrical. Masculine and neuter both take des (indefinite: eines, possessives: meines, seines and so on). Feminine and plural both take der (einer, meiner). So: des Mannes, des Kindes, der Frau, der Eltern.
Masculine and neuter nouns add an ending of their own: -s or -es. Short nouns of one syllable and nouns ending in s-sounds prefer -es (des Hauses, des Kurses); longer nouns take a simple -s (des Autos, des Monats). Feminine and plural nouns add nothing — the article der does all the work.
That gives the full pattern: des Kurses, des Autos, der Wohnung, der Eltern. Whenever you see des, you know two things at once: the noun is masculine or neuter, and it will carry an -s or -es at the end.
Der Anfang des Kurses war ziemlich schwierig.
The beginning of the course was quite difficult.
Kurs ends in an s-sound, so it takes -es: des Kurses.
Die Farbe des Autos gefällt mir nicht.
I do not like the colour of the car.
Die Fenster der Wohnung sind sehr alt.
The windows of the flat are very old.
Feminine: der Wohnung — the noun itself stays unchanged.
Die Meinung der Eltern ist mir wichtig.
The opinion of the parents is important to me.
Plural also takes der: der Eltern.
Position and names
The genitive normally follows the noun it belongs to: die Wohnung meiner Schwester, never meiner Schwester Wohnung in modern German. Keep the order fixed in your head as owner second: first the thing, then whose it is.
Names are the one big exception. A person's name takes a simple -s and stands in front, exactly like English: Marias Wohnung, Herr Webers Büro. No apostrophe — Marias, not Maria's. This is the only genitive that regularly comes first.
Possessive articles work in the genitive just like the other cases you know: meines Mannes, deiner Tochter, unserer Nachbarin. The endings mirror des and der, so once you know the definite articles, every possessive follows automatically.
Marias Wohnung liegt im dritten Stock.
Maria's flat is on the third floor.
Names take -s and stand first — with no apostrophe.
Das ist das Fahrrad meiner Tochter.
That is my daughter's bicycle.
Der Laptop meines Mannes ist schon wieder kaputt.
My husband's laptop is broken yet again.
The genitive in official German
Open any letter from a Behörde or your landlord and the genitives arrive in rows: die Unterschrift des Mieters, die Erhöhung der Miete, eine Kopie des Vertrags. Official German prefers noun-plus-genitive chains where spoken German would use a whole clause. Recognising the pattern lets you decode these letters quickly: find the des or der, and you know who or what the first noun belongs to.
In everyday speech, Germans often replace the genitive with von plus dative: das Auto von meinem Bruder instead of das Auto meines Bruders. You will hear this constantly and it is fine in conversation — but in formal writing, and in anything you send to an office, the genitive is the correct register.
A good B1 habit: use von freely when speaking, but practise the real genitive in your writing tasks. Examiners notice a well-placed des Vermieters.
Die Unterschrift des Mieters fehlt auf dem Vertrag.
The tenant's signature is missing from the contract.
Die Erhöhung der Miete gilt ab dem ersten April.
The rent increase applies from the first of April.
Bitte senden Sie uns eine Kopie des Vertrags.
Please send us a copy of the contract.
Das ist das Auto von meinem Bruder.
That is my brother's car.
Spoken alternative: von + dative replaces the genitive in everyday conversation.
Check yourself
Quick checks on this lesson. Get at least three quarters right to mark it as completed.
What is the correct genitive of der Vertrag?
Practise what you learned