| The Dative is the Death of the Genitive. A Guide through the Labyrinth of the German Language [book by Bastian Sick] | |
This construction with "von" is always used if there is no article to mark the genitive:
| Er ist ein Freund von mir. | He's a friend of mine. |
| Das Abstellen von Farhrädern ist verboten. | The parking of bicycles is forbidden. |
Uneducated Germans sometimes use the dative and a possessive adjective to create a genitive effect: "Bist du dem Mann seine Frau?" Are you the man's wife?
The genitive is used to indicate an indefinite day or part of the day:
| Eines Tages sollten wir das machen. | Some day we ought do that. |
| Eines Morgens hat er vergessen, sich die Schuhe anzuziehen. | One morning he forgot to put his shoes on. |
| Eines Sonntags gehen wir in die Kirche. | Some Sunday we'll go to church. |
Although Nacht is feminine, it here — and only here — assumes an analogous structure: "Sie ist eines Nachts weggelaufen."She ran away one night.
| "I go to Block House [a chain of steak houses] only because of the salad." "That's what they all say." | |
Prepositions that take the genitive:
A number of prepositions take a genitive object. The most common are statt and anstatt [instead of], trotz [in spite of], wegen [because of] and während [during]. In normal speech, German often use the dative after trotz and wegen. The grammar-police find that appalling, but in fact the dative is actually the older form.
| Statt eines Regenmantels trägt er einen Schirm. | Instead of a raincoat he carries an umbrella. |
| Trotz der Kälte wollen wir schwimmen gehen. | Despite the cold we want to go swimming. |
| Wegen der Arbeit meines Vaters mussten wir oft umziehen. | Because of my father's work we often had to move. |
| Wir machen alles des Kindes wegen. | We're doing everything on account of the child. |
| Während des Sommers wohnt er bei seinen Großeltern. | During the summer he lives with his grandparents. |
When just a masculine or neuter noun follows the preposition (i.e., when there is no article), there is no genitive "-s":
| Anstatt Fleisch isst sie Tofu. | Instead of meat she eats tofu. |
Note also:
| Er entschuldigte sich immer wieder wegen seines schlechten Deutsch. | He apologized repeatedly on account of his bad German. |
| Trotz ihres guten Französisch konnte sie nichts verstehen. | In spite of her good French she couldn't understand a thing. |
Less frequently used are außerhalb [outside of], innerhalb [inside of], oberhalb [above], unterhalb [beneath], diesseits [on this side of], and jenseits [on the other side of]:
| Sie wohnen außerhalb der Stadt. | They live outside the city. |
| Nur ein Spieler darf innerhalb dieses Kreises stehen. | Only one player is allowed to stand inside this circle. |
| Oberhalb dieser Linie gibt es ein paar Kratzer. | Above this line there are a couple of scratches. |
| Die Leber sitzt unterhalb der Lunge. | The liver is beneath the lung. |
| Diesseits der Grenze spricht man Deutsch, aber jenseits spricht man Holländisch. | On this side of the border German is spoken, but on the other side they speak Dutch. |
| The grand race of the lowest prices. | |
George O. Curme's Grammar of the German Language (New York: Macmillan, 1922) lists a total of 123 prepositions that take the genitive (p. 357), but most are very rare or confined to legal language. They include anlässlich [on the occasion of], angesichts [in the face of; in view of], infolge [as a result of; owing to], ungeachtet [despite; notwithstanding], etc.
Genitive prepositions do not form "da-" compounds.
Instead we use genitive demonstrative pronouns, getting structures like während dessen [in the meantime], statt dessen [instead of that], and trotz dessen [despite that] — written as one or two words.
There is a special form of wegen:
| Wir gehen seinetwegen zu Fuß. | We're going on foot on account of him (for his sake). |
| Ich mache es ihretwegen. | I'm doing it on account of her (for her sake). |
| Kaufen Sie das nicht meinetwegen. | Don't buy that for my sake. |
| Meinetwegen könnt ihr es verkaufen. | As far as I'm concerned (for all I care), you can sell it. |
Verbs that take the genitive:
Quite a few verbs once took a genitive object, but over time they have switched to the accusative. One example is vergessen, although the name of the flower Vergissmeinnicht (forget-me-not) remains. Some verbs officially still take the genitive, although many native speakers will use the accusative instead. It is with such formal — some would say stilted — German that you might encounter genitive pronouns:
| Die Angst bemächtigte sich seiner. | Fear seized him. |
| Wir bedürfen Ihrer Hilfe. | We require your assistance. |
| Man muss unter 16 sein, um sich eines VCRs zu bedienen. | You have to be under 16 to operate a VCR. |
| Ich erfreue mich seiner Anwesenheit. | I enjoy his presence. |
| Wir harren deiner. | We await you. |
Other genitive constructions:
Some predicate adjectives are also associated with the genitive:
| Er ist seiner Beliebtheit sehr gewiss. | He's very certain of his popularity. |
| Ich bin mir dessen bewusst. | I'm aware of that. |
| Ach ich bin des Treibens müde! [aus Goethes "Wandrers Nachtlied"] | Oh, I'm weary of this restless activity |
| Sie ist des Mordes schuldig. | She is guilty of murder. |
| Er ist ihrer nicht wert. | He's not worthy of her. |
Certain noun phrases in the genitive act like prepositional phrases:
| Er fährt immer erster Klasse. | He always travels first class. |
| Sie ist meine Cousine ersten Grades. | She's my first cousin. |
| Wir sind heute guter Laune. | We're in a good mood today |
| Sie geht guten Mutes nach Hause. | She goes home in good spirits. |
| Er arbeitet festen Glaubens dafür. | He works for that with a firm faith. |
| Meines Erachtens ist das nicht nötig. | In my opinion that's not necessary. |
| Meines Wissens ist nichts übrig geblieben. | As far as I know, nothing was left over. |
| Sie behauptet das allen Ernstes. | She claims that in all seriousness |
| Du bist heute guter Dinge. | You're in a cheerful mood today. |
| Wir sind unverrichteter Dinge zurückgekehrt. | We returned having accomplished nothing. |
| Junk disposal of all kinds bulky refuse / plastic, synthetics and scrap metal /clearing out of cellars, attics, and apartments / demolition work / moving service, mini-transport / free inspection / short notice possible Painting jobs. Fast, clean, and reasonably priced. | |
1The "ein-words" are ein, kein, and the possessive pronouns: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr, ihr.
The so-called "der-words" are the articles der, die, das; dies-, jed-, jen-, manch-, solch-, welch-.
2 Increasingly, Germans are putting apostrophes onto all names, especially in commercial enterprises. This option is unavailable to non-native speakers. Fränky's Flowers.
