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# genitive

noun (the genitive, genitives); adjective (genitive)

«genitive» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (grammar) The form of a noun or pronoun that shows who owns something or what it belongs to: in English, «the dog's bone», «Sam's coat», «the roof of the house». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#m1)
2. In languages like Latin, German or Ukrainian, a special case ending used for owning and for «of». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#m2)

### In the lessons

In grammar lessons English pupils usually call it «possessive» or the possessive apostrophe; «genitive» is the older grammar word used in foreign-language lessons and language olympiads. Knowing the genitive helps with Latin, German, Ukrainian and Russian, where the ending of the word changes. Phrases: the genitive case, genitive plural, genitive ending.

### Examples

- In «the cat's tail», «cat's» is in the genitive. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#x1)
- Latin uses a genitive ending: «Marci» means «of Marcus». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#x2)
- The genitive plural of «children» is «children's». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#x3)
- In German, «des Mannes» is genitive: «of the man». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#x4)
- The olympiad puzzle asked us to find the genitive ending. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#x5)
- «Whose» is the genitive form of «who». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/#x6)

### Note

In English the genitive is shown by 's (singular: the girl's) or s' (plural ending in s: the girls'), or by «of». Possessive pronouns (my, your, his, its) have no apostrophe: «its» (belonging to it) is not «it's» (it is). Stress: GEN-i-tiv.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «genitive» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/G/genitive/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«genitive» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/genitive.html) on Mova free.