To show that something belongs to someone, Latin uses a special case called the genitive.
Can recognize Possession with genitive in a short Latin prompt
Schau dir diese Beispiele an. Kannst du das grammatische Muster erkennen?
Cicerō's house was on the Palatine.
The senator's son became consul.
Achte auf die hervorgehobenen Teile. Was haben sie gemeinsam?
To show that something belongs to someone, Latin uses a special case called the genitive. Where English says "the girl's book" or "the book of the girl", Latin puts the owner into the genitive and leaves the possessed thing alone. Recognizing the genitive ending is one of the fastest ways to make sense of a Latin phrase.
The typical singular genitive endings for the first two noun groups are -ae and -i:
| Noun | Genitive | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| puella (girl) | puellae | of the girl / the girl's |
| servus (slave) | servi | of the slave / the slave's |
| Roma (Rome) | Romae | of Rome |
Examples: Liber puellae - the girl's book. Villa domini magna est. - The master's house is big. Muri Romae - the walls of Rome.
For English speakers: there is no apostrophe and no fixed word for "of" - the ending does the whole job, so puellae already means "of the girl". Watch the word order, which is the reverse of the English "'s" pattern: Latin usually says liber puellae, literally "book of-the-girl". And be careful, because -ae is doing double duty here: puellae can mean "of the girl" (genitive) or "the girls" (plural subject), so let the rest of the sentence tell you which.
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A1 an
ÜbungsaufgabenCicerō's house was on the Palatine.
Ciceronis is genitive. Latin has no apostrophe and no 'of'; the ending is the whole construction.
The senator's son became consul.
Senatoris is the genitive: 'the senator's son'. It carries possession with no preposition and no apostrophe. Note also consul in the nominative: after 'become' Latin keeps the nominative.
Im Kurs üben
Wende diese Grammatik in den Übungen des Kurses A1 an