German Grammar Explained /
Genitive: possessive articles
REMEMBER THE GENITIVE?
The genitive expresses an affiliation or possession. The question of the genitive is: Wessen? (English: "Whose?")
Example:
Wessen Schuhe sind das?
Das sind die Schuhe des Jungen.
Change from nominative to genitive article:
der - des - eines
die - der - einer
das - des - eines
die - der - -----
Now let's learn how you can combine the genitive and the possessive articles.
I thought the genitive expressed possession already, that's confusing.
Well, if the "owner" of something is your father, your neighbor, etc. instead of having a definitive article, you will have a possessive pronoun.
Das sind die Freunde meines Vaters.
These are my father's friends.
Das sind die Freunde meiner Tochter.
These are my daughter's friends.
Das sind die Freunde meines Kindes.
These are my child's friends.
Das sind die Freunde meiner Eltern.
These are my parents' friends.
In a nutshell:
eines | → | meines |
einer | → | meiner |
eines | → | meines |
-- | → | meiner |