genitiivplural

Genitiivplural, or genitive plural, is a grammatical form found in languages with a genitive case that marks relationships such as possession, partitivity, or association in the plural. It is used to express “of the X” or similar relations when the noun is in plural, and it can also interact with numerals and possessive constructions. In contrast to the nominative plural, the genitive plural often requires specific endings or articles.

In Russian and many other Slavic languages, the genitive plural is commonly used after numerals five and higher. For example, пятые книги would use the genitive plural form, and после пяти столов (pjat' stolov) means “five tables,” with столов being the genitive plural of стол. Similarly, after numerals that require genitive, other nouns take genitive plural endings such as детей (children) in phrases like у трёх детей.

In German, the genitive plural marks possession and is formed with a specific plural ending, typically der + noun in genitive. For example, das Dach der Häuser means “the roofs of the houses,” and die Farbe der Autos means “the color of the cars.” The genitive plural is used with definite articles and possessive relationships, often without a preposition.

Finnish and Estonian also use genitive plural to indicate possession or association. Examples include talojen in Finnish (of the houses) and majade in Estonian (of the houses). These forms show how the genitive plural functions across Uralic languages.

English, by contrast, has no distinct genitive plural case. Possession is shown with the ’s suffix or with of-phrases (the cats’ collars or the collars of the cats). The genitive plural thus behaves differently in English than in languages with a dedicated genitive plural ending.