genitive case
- noun
- /ˈdʒɛnɪtɪv keɪs/
- Specialized
- In Dothraki, the genitive case is the default expression of alienable possession.
But Old English doesn't need the preposition because it has the genitive case to sort of embed that of indirectly into the word itself.
- But Old English doesn't need the preposition because it has the genitive case to sort of embed that of indirectly into the word itself.
- And so the the, you know, it's what we call the genitive case.
Examples
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The teacher explained that the genitive case shows who owns something in the sentence.
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But Old English doesn't need the preposition because it has the genitive case to sort of embed that of indirectly into the word itself.
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Aside from their aesthetic merit, the passages are chosen to illustrate a particular grammatical construction: the genitive case, reflexive verbs, the passive voice, the comparative.
Academic text (1994) -
In English, the genitive case is often formed by adding 's to a noun.
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To indicate possession, the genitive case is used as in the phrase 'the dog's leash.'
Synonyms
A form of a word that shows something belongs to someone
Showing that something belongs to someone, for example 'the girl's book'
A word form that shows who something belongs to, for example John's book
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'genitive case' is directly compositional: 'genitive' names the grammatical function of marking possession or relation and 'case' denotes an inflectional category, so the combined meaning is simply the case that is genitive. This construction is morphosyntactically transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
The term genitive case comes from an old Latin word meaning 'birth' or 'family'. It shows who or what something belongs to — for example the 's in the dog's leash — so it means 'possession' or a close relationship.