The German genitive case is used to either indicate possession, or ownership. However, in spoken German the genitive is often regarded as old-fashioned and too formal. A more common way to replace it is by using the preposition 'von' + dative.
One very important thing you should know about genitive, is that it's different than English when it comes to word order. Whereas in English the genitive construction comes first, in German it usually follows the noun it refers to. An example would better illustrate it:
Out of all four German cases, the genitive case has the most endings, both associated with words linked with the noun, and with the noun itself. These endings replace the apostrophe 's' used in the English language (even when referring to a person by name).
Article Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural Definite des Mannes der Frau des Kindes der Tiere Indefinite eines Mannes einer Frau eines Kindes - Tiere Negative keines Mannes keiner Frau keines Kindes keiner Tiere Possessive meines Mannes meiner Frau meines Kindes meiner TiereNote that in Genitive, masculine and neuter nouns take either an '-es' ending or a '-s' ending (usually with nouns having two or more syllables).
Genitive case after certain prepositionsCertain prepositions always take the genitive case no matter their position in the sentence, and even if there will be more than one genitive noun within the sentence.
Preposition Definition trotz despite während during wegen because (an)statt instead of ExamplesHere are a few example sentences in which the genitive nouns are pointed out:
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