Genetivi

Genetivi, or genitive case, is a grammatical category used in many languages to express a close relationship between a noun and another element. It most often marks possession or a broader sense of "of" but can also indicate origin, association, or measurement. The form is usually created by inflection or by placing a determiner or preposition before the noun.

In Finnish, the genetivi is called genetiivi and is used to show possession and other relations; the singular talo becomes talon, meaning "of the house" or "the house's." In German, the genitive is expressed with the article des and a modified noun, as in des Hauses ("of the house"). In Russian, the genitive case (roditel'nyj padezh) marks possession, quantity with negation, and other relations; dom → doma ("of a house"), domov ("of houses"). In Swedish, genitive forms are often shown with an -s possessive suffix, as husets ("the house's") and thus express similar relations.

Although the specific forms vary by language, the genetivi/genitive serves a similar function across language families: to connect nouns in a possessive or relational sense. It contrasts with the nominative or other cases and interacts with determiners, numerals, and verbs in case-marking languages.

In English, a different strategy is used, typically the possessive -'s or a prepositional "of" rather than a grammatical case on the noun itself.