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Genitive case

Finally, we are learning the last noun case in the German language. It is not used as often as the first three noun cases, and there is a tendency to use the dative case to replace the genitive case in verbal communication. But still, in order to fully understand the content in German, it is important to understand the genitive case as well.

The genitive case is used primarily to indicate possession (which you can also do with the dative). There are also some prepositions that go only with the genitive. Some verbs also require the genitive. And it is also used to express an indefinite time when an action is taking place.

Here is the table of definite articles in nominative, accusative, dative and genitive:

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
N	der	die	das	die
A	den	die	das	die
D	dem	der	dem	den
G	des	der	des	der

Here is also the table for indefinite articles.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
N	ein	eine	ein	-
A	einen	eine	ein	-
D	einem	einer	einem	-
G	eines	einer	eines	-

Here is the table for negation article "kein".

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
N	kein	keine	kein	keine
A	keinen	keine	kein	keine
D	keinem	keiner	keinem	keinen
G	keines	keiner	keines	keiner

A very important thing about genitive is that the masculine and neuter nouns in singular changes as well. If it is not already ending on "s", the noun itself gets "s" at the end, or "es" if the ending of the noun is unsuitable to just add "s".

Some prepositions are used exclusively with the genitive. Here is the list of dative prepositions: anstatt (instead of), außerhalb (outside of), innerhalb (inside of), trotz (in spite of), während (during), statt (instead of), aufgrund (due to).

Some verbs require the genitive like bedürfen (to need), sich erinnern (to remember) and sich schämen (to be ashamed).

Plusquamperfekt

This verb tense is used to express an action that happened before some other action in the past. For example, if you are telling the story in the past tense (for example, about your last holiday), you will express events that preceded your story with Plusquamperfekt.

This tense is constructed by using the preterit of the verbs "sein" or "haben" and the past participle of a verb. So, in Perfekt you use the present tense of "sein" and "haben" with the past participle of a verb. In Plusquamperfekt the only difference is that "sein" and "haben" are in Preterit.

Take a look at the example:

with "sein"	with "haben"
Ich war gegangen.	Ich hatte gekauft
Du warst gegangen.	Du hattest gekauft
Er war gegangen.	Er hatte gekauft
Wir waren gegangen.	Wir hatten gekauft
Ihr wart gegangen.	Ihr hattet gekauft
Sie waren gegangen.	Sie hatten gekauft

Preterit of "sein" is used, just like in Perfekt, with the verbs that express motion or change of state.

Future

You have seen how you can easily express future events using the present tense. But there is a future tense in German as well. Not only one, but two future tenses. We will see how to use Future I tense in this lesson since it is much more widely used.

Future I is constructed by using the present tense of the verb "werden" with the infinitive of a verb.

Let us see an example:

Take a look at the example:

in German	in English
Ich werde spielen.	I will play.>
Du wirst spielen.	You will play.>
Er wird spielen.	He will play.
Wir werden spielen.	We will play.
Ihr werdet spielen.	You (all) will play.>
Sie werden spielen.	They will play.