you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Practically, German has only three cases, though, even if some uptight formalists (who also likely use a pair of pincers to pull up their pants) will greatly bemoan the simple fact of life that the genitive does not exist in the wild.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    But there are plenty of common expressions that use the genitive:

    • Trotz des Regens gingen wir spazieren.
    • Während des Essens hat er angerufen.
    • Wegen des Staus kam sie zu spät.
    • Außerhalb des formellen Schriftverkehrs ist der Genitiv selten.
    • Ich bin mir meiner Sache sicher.
    • usw.

    Using the dative with "von" would just be incorrect here. I certainly use and hear the genitive regularly, at least within these expressions. But maybe I am just one of those uptight formalists 🤷 — I always thought the genitive was rather elegant.

    I do admit that there are some everyday situations in which it sounds clunky though...

  • source
  • parent