genitívet

Genitívet is a grammatical case, primarily found in Indo-European languages, that indicates possession or belonging. It is one of the most common cases in languages that utilize case systems. The genitive case answers the question "whose?" or "of what?". For example, in English, "John's book" or "the cover of the book" uses the genitive function, though English has largely lost its robust case system, relying more on prepositions and word order.

In languages like Latin, German, and Russian, the genitive case is marked by specific noun endings that change depending on the noun's gender, number, and declension class. Beyond simple possession, the genitive can also express other relationships. These include the partitive genitive, indicating a part of a whole (e.g., "a piece of cake"), the subjective genitive, where the genitive noun performs the action of a related noun or verb (e.g., "the king's arrival"), and the objective genitive, where the genitive noun is the object of the action (e.g., "the love of God"). Some languages also use the genitive to denote origin or material. The precise functions and forms of the genitive case vary significantly between different languages.