What does genitive mean?
Word: Genitive
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Genitive means in grammar, the case or form of a noun that shows who owns something, such as Ravi's in Ravi's bag, or of the city in the heart of the city.
How do you spell genitive?
Syllables: gen - i - tive
Tricky part: The vowel after n is i, not e; students who think of genetics write genetive.
Watch out for: genetive, jenitive, genitife
Memory tip: The genitive shows who owns something. Picture a genie who owns a magic lamp: the genie's lamp, and genitive starts with geni.
Genitive in a sentence
Example 1: In 'the dog's tail', dog's is in the genitive.
Example 2: Our Sanskrit teacher asked us to write the genitive of every noun in the list.
Example 3: English shows the genitive with an apostrophe and s, or with the word of.
Fun Fact
Sanskrit changes the ending of a noun for the genitive: 'of Rama' is Ramasya.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. conjunction 2. preposition 3. adjective 4. genitiv
a) a word such as in or under that shows position
b) a joining word such as and or but
c) the noun form that marks an owner
d) a word that describes a noun
Show answer
c) the noun form that marks an owner. Genitive keeps a final e after the v, as active and native do, so genitiv is the faulty word.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
genittive
a) n
b) t
c) i
d) v
Show answer
b) t. A single t sits between the two i's: gen-i-tive.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
In Latin class, Riya learnt the tigevine endings of every noun by heart.
a) genuine
b) genitive
c) negative
d) sensitive
Show answer
b) genitive. Sensitive needs two s's, negative an a, and genuine a u; only genitive uses these eight letters.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of 'genitive' as it is used in the sentence:
Write the genitive of each name in the list, such as Arjun's for Arjun.
a) plural
b) superlative
c) possessive
d) objective
Show answer
c) possessive. The genitive and the possessive are two names for the same case.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which phrase contains a genitive?
a) the bicycle stopped
b) Meena's bicycle
c) a red bicycle
d) ride a bicycle
Show answer
b) Meena's bicycle
2. Which phrase shows the genitive with the word of?
a) a house by the river
b) the roof of the house
c) a walk to the house
d) a house with a garden
Show answer
b) the roof of the house
