genitivepartitive

Genitive partitive is a grammatical construction in which the genitive case marks a part of a larger whole rather than the whole itself. It expresses a portion or an indefinite quantity, rather than a definite object. The term is used especially in descriptions of languages where the genitive (dopełniacz or equivalent) serves a partitive function.

In practice, the genitive partitive occurs when speakers want to indicate that only a part of something is involved. This often happens with mass or countable nouns after certain words of quantity such as some, a few, a little, several, or after numerals that indicate more than one item. The resulting noun is typically in genitive form in these languages. For example, in Polish, phrases like jeden trochę chleba (I have some bread) use the genitive form of the noun after quantity words; similarly, kilka jabłek indicates several apples with the noun in genitive plural. In Czech, málo mléka means little milk, with mleka in genitive singular to express an incomplete quantity.

The genitive partitive is language-specific. It is common in Slavic languages such as Polish and Czech, where the genitive is used after quantity expressions to convey partiality. Other languages have a separate partitive case or use different mechanisms to express the same meaning (for instance, Finnish and Estonian employ a true partitive case rather than a genitive for this function). The concept is distinguished from genitive of possession or description by its primary semantic role: indicating a portion, not a relationship of ownership or attribute.

See also: genitive case, partitive case, dopełniacz.